


Penumbra

by tothineownelfbetrue



Category: Disenchantment (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Bad Parenting, Brief occurance of vomiting, Dagmar is evil, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Friends look out for each other, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Love Confessions, Luci catches feels, Luci doesn't like that elf really, Luci is self destructive, Luci makes bad choices, Luci sucks at being evil, Luci wrestling with feelings, M/M, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, Self-Hatred, Spoilers for all of Part 1 and Part 2, There's no smut btw, Underage Drinking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Wanting Things You Can't Have, awaiting a final beta reading, being in love with your friend sucks, canon compliant character death, canon-compliant as of Tiabeanie Falls, darkness of the literal variety, he gets better though, it's tagged for mature themes, mentions of political intrigue, possibly not one-sided attraction, post-canon continuation, some drunken groping of dubious consent, will update with a beta-read version later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 38,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22166401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tothineownelfbetrue/pseuds/tothineownelfbetrue
Summary: Luci never wanted a love story.  He especially never wanted the one where he gave up everything for someone, like some kind of sap.  But here he is, lost on the wrong end of someone else’s not-so-happily-ever after.Or: That weird fic where not everything is solved by grand romantic gestures.
Relationships: Bean | Tiabeanie/Elfo (Disenchantment), Elfo/Luci (Disenchantment)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was supposed to be a 4k one shot and somehow it's 30k instead... so that's a thing. This fic is complete, the next update will be next Tuesday! I have more fics in the works to come out soon. If you're interested in keeping up with fics and art, be sure to check out my tumblr: tothineownelfbetrue
> 
> There's also a Disenchantment Discord I run which has a section for Luci/Elfo content. If anyone interested in joining, let me know!

The first thing Luci noticed when the elf came crashing into his life - through the stained glass window of a church, no less - was the way the elf had a bright aura around him. It was the mark of a heaven-bound soul, something he hadn’t seen much of in his brief time on earth, outside of a few random children. It was pretty odd for someone who was at least marginally into adulthood to glow like that.

Luci hated it immediately.

The second thing Luci noticed was how completely pathetic the elf was at even just existing like a reasonable person. It made the facts about his shiny soul click into place. It also made the elf that much simpler to torment, which was a bonus for Luci.

He kept expecting, in the absence of his sheltered lifestyle back in Elfwood, that Elfo’s soul would start to dim to an acceptable level. Human souls were pretty dingy and Dreamland was a hot mess of a place that almost rivaled Hell in the sheer amount of human misery. Luci was bound to Bean’s soul, meant to corrupt it, but it wasn’t like he had to try very hard since Bean was well on the way to corruption even without his help. Elfo, on the other hand...

Luci couldn’t resist a bit of corruption on the side, he was a _demon_ after all. Bean was his job, but Elfo became his pet project.

Jealousy was one of the easiest angles to work with, since Elfo’s hopeless little crush on Bean was bound to fail. It didn’t hurt to encourage him in his pursuit since he had no chance of succeeding; and frustration over his continued failures would make him easier to manipulate. It worked like a charm, really, except that Elfo’s passive-aggressive tactics weren’t blatant or obvious enough to give any serious tarnish to his soul. When Elfo worked hard to redeem his bad actions with Bean somehow his soul seemed even brighter afterward. One step forward, two steps back.

It was annoying.

Annoying… but also somehow intriguing. The more Elfo resisted his efforts - even obliviously - the more determined Luci was to get the elf’s goat.

“You really are pathetic.” He grumbled, watching Elfo watch Bean.

“I know.” The elf replied, without any hesitation. His hands were pressed against his knees. Most people would have at least pretended to protest but it simply wasn’t how Elfo worked. “I know I’m pathetic and I already know Bean doesn’t feel that way. I just wish-” he let out a sigh, turning his gaze fully on Luci.

“I don’t _want_ to like Bean,” he confided, despite the fact that Luci was a demon and, more importantly, that Luci didn’t care about his troubles. “I just _do_. And I know I shouldn’t make that her problem… and… I’m trying. But it’s really _hard_.” The last word emerged in a high pitched whine as the elf flopped onto his back in a show of childish frustration. “It just… it sucks to like someone who doesn’t like you back, you know? And then you still also like them as a friend too and it’s just… confusing.”

“Uh-huh. Yeah.” Luci nodded blankly, his stare as pointedly disinterested as he could make it. “So what I’m hearing here is that you should throw yourself out this open window.” Luci gestured with one hand while nudging the window open with the other.

He knew the elf wouldn’t do it. He had a surprising amount of will to live for someone so stupid and naive. Sure enough, Elfo wrung his hands a bit, looking at the now-open window in distress.

“I’m not...sure that’s a good idea.”

“How is it not a good idea? Your life sucks and no one’s ever gonna love you. So why not take the easy way out? Do it!” Luci normally reserved his ‘do it’ tactic for Bean, but it was a good fallback with anyone.

If Elfo had actually moved toward the window, Luci wasn’t sure what he would have done. Probably saved his dumb green ass despite his better judgment. It wasn’t that he wanted Elfo dead. He wanted to take that shine off of the elf’s soul and that wouldn’t work if Elfo took a dive from the castle’s tower. Elfo would just wind up in Heaven, and his plans - such as they were - would be for nothing.

It didn’t ever come up though because Elfo took a look at the window and then one at Luci before finally giving a small, hesitant laugh. “Oh… that…. That’s funny. I see what you’re doing. You’re right. I shouldn’t let things like that get to me. Things will get better. Thanks Luci. You’re a good friend.” 

The demon glared a hole through Elfo’s thick skull at this egregious misinterpretation of his goading. Doubling down would have only encouraged Elfo even more, probably, so Luci had to settle for a shrug of his shoulders and a mumbled: “Yeah, whatever.”

Neither of those things perplexed Elfo at all. He was already moving away from the window to go talk to Bean in a non-creeper way. When Luci _looked_ at him, he was just as glowy as before, leaving the demon to wonder if it wouldn’t have been more fruitful to have just shoved him out of the damn window himself.

-

“Do you hate me?” Elfo asked, his voice rising on the last word into a high-pitched whine that grated on Luci’s nerves. It had taken him a long time to ask, even in the face of Luci’s continual torment. He couldn’t and frankly _wouldn’t_ deny that he’d been digging in even more than usual lately.

Luci didn’t want to think too hard about the _why_ of it. Elfo had been annoying him for ages with his rules-following and his _friendship_. Demons didn’t even need friends! And even if they did, no self-respecting demon would ever need a friend like Elfo.

Stupid nice-y elf. Stupid shiny soul. It was enough to irk anyone.

“Well doy!” He snapped back, perhaps a bit belated.

“But…” Elfo’s lip quivered and the sight sent a strange shiver down Luci’s spine. A thrill? Maybe. “I thought we were friends.”

Luci’s eyes narrowed at that. Elfo was continually talking about them being _friends_ despite Luci’s many efforts to discourage the entire line of thought. “I never said we were friends.” He snapped back, automatically. When the elf’s gaze remained on him, his ears flicked sideways for a second. Why did Elfo always have to give that look? Like he was a kicked puppy or something.

Not that kicking puppies was necessarily bad…

Objectively it was, of course. There were a lot of puppy-kickers in Hell. But to a demon, bad stuff like that was actually pretty awesome. Luci would happily have kicked a few dozen puppies himself with no reaction but amusement at their tormented yelps.

Elfo, on the other hand… well, Luci enjoyed watching the elf’s constant - if low-key - suffering but there was something _off_ about it this time. It just wasn’t as satisfying as he expected. That was something Luci could maybe chalk up to the fact that Elfo wouldn’t be as fun to harass if he perceived Luci as a non-friend and didn’t allow himself to show the same degree of vulnerability…

Then again, even with random strangers or people trying to inflict bodily harm on him, Elfo tended to be naive to a fault. So them not being friends probably wouldn’t change anything either.

“Look,” Luci said before he could consider his words. “The two of us-” he faltered for a second at the sudden bright look that came into Elfo’s eyes. Excitement. Hope. It would be so easy, but so satisfying, to crush. Going in for the kill right now would leave him less options for later though.

It was the classic dilemma. Should he lie now and pretend to be friends to increase the impact of the later dismissal and betrayal of Elfo’s feelings or should he just crush Elfo’s hopes right here and now?

Elfo’s eyes were still on him, lip quivering, and Luci felt a weird pang in the vague region of his chest. He ignored it as best he could.

Later. He’d crush the elf later. It would be so much more enjoyable then.

“You know the cat that dumbass wizard keeps in a box in the cage room?” His tone was light, conversational as he switched topics.

“Sorcerio’s cat?” Elfo frowned in confusion at this sudden shift in the discussion, his fingers twisting in the fabric of his shirt. His brows were furrowed, a slight wrinkle to his nose. “The one with the poison?”

It had been a stupid experiment, even for Sorcerio who was among the stupidest of the castle’s residents. Perhaps the wizard had considered it clever or thoughtful but really it had just been _something_ he could do with the random cat that had come into his possession from the estate of Lord Lingonberry.

So with a brand new hand-me-down cat in hand, Sorcerio had attempted to make an undead creature. He’d put the cat inside the box with a vial of poison. Surely that would yield the desired results! After all, you wouldn’t ever know if the cat was alive or dead while it was still in the box. That somehow translated into the cat being a zombie.

Of course, given that the cat had been in there for three weeks and hadn’t clawed its way out by now… it was definitely dead.

“That cat is basically how I feel about you,” Luci said succinctly.

Elfo shook his head, not getting it. “You want to stuff me in a box?”

Luci groaned, but he should have expected this obtuseness. “It’s a metaphor, stupid. The cat is dead.”

Trust the elf to ruin a perfectly good dead cat metaphor.

Elfo chimed in, not willing to leave it with just that one small bit of stupidity. “Well, I’m an optimist. I think it could still be alive!”

Luci stared at him flatly. “It’s not.”

“But it could be!” Elfo paused, finally seeming to click on the intent of Luci’s initial metaphor. “Oh! So you mean you don’t know if we’re friends until Sorcerio opens the cat box?”

Okay, maybe not. It had come close though and honestly Luci wasn’t entirely sure himself about what he’d been trying to say. “I mean we’re not friends. Because you’re… ugh. We’re just not friends, okay. And the cat is dead.”

Maybe if he’d led off with the firm assertion that they weren’t friends Elfo would have actually listened to it. But instead the elf had latched onto the stupid Sorcerio’s Box thing and was even more convinced than before.

“Oh Luci,” Warm, slightly clammy green arms wrapped around him. “You just don’t want to say that we’re friends.” Luci should probably have pushed him away, but Elfo’s cheek was pressed against the top of his head and he was hard to move so he didn’t bother. Elfo added, after a moment of prolonged silence, “And it’s probably alive.”

Later, sitting alone on Bean’s windowsill, Luci considered that it could have gone better. Elfo was still convinced they were friends but he had to get the picture sooner or later. You couldn’t just keep a box closed forever.

-

So Elfo was dead.

Luci was having difficulty wrapping his head around it. Sure, he understood death as a concept; mortals had to die to go to Hell, after all. But as an immortal creature, there were only a very limited number of ways in which he could be rendered dead himself. He’d eluded one of them with help from the two dumbass mortals he spent his time with and had been on a bit of a high since then. He was an untouchable demon, damn it!

Somehow he’d never really considered the idea of worrying about his companions though. They were just mortals, after all, with their squishy mortal bodies and pathetically short lifespans. They were gonna die eventually anyway. It was no skin off his nose. His sole purpose was to make them do bad things before they died to really rack up their sin tally for when they inevitably went to hell for all eternity.

But Elfo definitely wasn’t in hell right now. He’d been stupid and shiny up until his last breath. The glow winked out then and that, more than anything, demonstrated the finality of it. There was no more Elfo, not in any meaningful way to Luci. Souls in heaven might as well not exist anymore.

As much as Luci tried to be normal, even blase about it after his one brief moment of 

_grief helplessness rage_

shock, it was hard to fall into some semblance of their old routine. Everything that had been familiar and comfortable was now just a reminder that something was missing. They went on though. What other choice was there? As much as Elfo being gone made things more boring, it was just how things were with mortals.

_And if sometimes he expected to hear Elfo’s voice and be greeted with that impossibly bright soul glow… well, it was just out of habit, that was all._

Besides, there wasn’t much time to wallow. Dagmar was definitely up to something and Luci doubted it was good. Normally, someone else having a nefarious plan wouldn’t have fazed him but corrupting Bean was the one thing Luci still had left and he was going to get it done, goddamnit. Dagmar wasn’t going to take this away from him!

His amateur sleuthing paid off. Firstly because it was a welcome distraction from thinking about other things - and the lack of said other things - and secondly it actually helped him discover Dagmar’s plans… or at least enough of her plan that he could try to sound a warning.

Not that it did fuck all in the grand scheme of things. Dagmar still captured him in a jar, made off with Bean in tow and turned all of Dreamland into creepy lawn ornaments.

And Elfo was still dead. There was that too.

The lack of any resolution, or even a definite person to be angry at, was almost as bad as the idiot being gone. Almost, but not quite.

Worst of all, he had a long lonely trip back to Dagmar’s homeland of Maru, still trapped in the jar. Bean obviously didn’t know he was there and didn’t pop in to rescue him during the long trip. It was just him and his own thoughts.

As a demon, Luci wasn’t prone to self-flagellation. It required taking too much blame for whatever had gone wrong. That kind of excessive guilt was not something a demon went for. Luci hadn’t done anything wrong anyway. When it came down to it, he’d just been doing his job the entire time. His only mistake had been getting a bit too invested in the mortals he was dealing with.

But the knowledge was no comfort. He replayed that moment in his head over and over, surprising himself with the amount of detail he could recall. The sharp hitch in Elfo’s breath, almost covered up by the meaty thunk of the arrow sinking deep into his flesh… it echoed in his ears. The flutter of Elfo’s thin chest as he drew shorter, shallower breaths, cradled in Bean’s arms.

The next time he’d touched Elfo he didn’t feel _alive_ anymore and he almost wished that it had been him holding Elfo through his last breath instead of Bean. What would it have been like? Would Elfo have given him those same small reassurances about how it was okay?

_Not that it was, stupid Elfo. It was so like him to say something ridiculous like that… as though it would make things better somehow or make them hurt less. Newsflash: it did neither._

He knew it still hurt Bean, even days later. Her happiness over her mother’s return was still tempered by the knowledge of what it had cost. He knew that the misery over Elfo’s loss wasn’t a competition, much less one that Bean would have wanted to win. But despite knowing, he couldn’t quite manage to shake the odd feeling of resentment clinging to him like a second skin.

She’d held Elfo before he died. His last words had been for her. Whether Luci tried to ignore it or make himself fully okay with the knowledge, it didn’t just go away. She’d gotten last words with the elf too, pleading with him to stay, while Luci’s own words had been a feeble question to the universe… an unanswered one at that. He’d never felt futility more acutely in his life. He’d come to the mortal world to take charge of his own life, not to feel as powerless as he had been back in hell. If he couldn’t improve his own standing, then what was he even here for?

No. He steeled himself to it. It didn’t matter what happened or who got lost along the way. He was here for a reason and he had to keep going and forget about stupid soft emotions that demons shouldn’t - no, _couldn’t_ \- feel anyway.

Except he couldn’t do his one damn job up here in the mortal realm because Dagmar had already done it too well! Now there was nothing he could actually accomplish except to sit in his jar and watch as she stole his thunder. Then they arrived in Maru and he was put away in some dusty old storeroom, and he couldn’t even do that much anymore.

He drank all the alcohol. It wasn’t anything tasty and sadly wasn’t nearly strong enough to actually get him drunk, but it was something to do. Of course, after guzzling it all, there was even less to do inside an empty bottle. He wasn’t drunk enough to stop thinking, and brooding over it was basically all he could do in his captivity.

There were a lot of what-ifs in his thoughts; Things his mind would approach but refuse to touch. He couldn’t fathom why he felt… _this_ , whatever this was. It reminded him again that mortal emotions were ridiculous and useless and that he didn’t need or want them. Yet as much as he tried to purge himself of them, he found himself clinging tighter to them now that he was alone.

_stupid. useless. stupid._

There was something else too… something important that he couldn’t put his finger on. His mind would always near whatever it was and then shy away at the last moment, unwilling to make the jump it needed. He would have cared more about following that train of thought to its inevitable conclusion if he hadn’t had the sinking feeling that it would force him to think more deeply about things he was perfectly comfortable with the way they were. Self-introspection wasn’t a demonic trait and he had no intention of indulging in it. He’d just languish in his boredom. It was fine.

He’d only just resigned himself to this fate when he felt the tingle of a familiar presence. His ears twitched, head rising slowly.

Bean. It was Bean. The bond they shared meant that he could never be completely cut off from her presence. But it didn’t mean much while he was trapped within the bottle enchanted to contain demonic essence;, there wasn’t anything he could do and Bean actually coming to him and finding him was unlikely. Her presence was a tease at his senses, nothing more. He ducked his head, trying to ignore that tantalizing prickle. He was doing so well at it that he almost missed the sound of Bean calling out his name.

For a few muddled moments, Luci thought he might be hallucinating out of sheer boredom, then it sank in. “Bean!” He pressed himself against the glass, desperately. “In here!” He called out with an uncharacteristic whine in his voice, his ears laid back. “Hurry! I’m out of cigarettes!”

The shattering of the glass hitting the floor as he lept into Bean’s arms had never been such a welcome sound before. He crowed out in greeting, “I missed you, you son of a bitch!” It still wasn’t the same, but damn, it felt good being with Bean again. Their bond snapped back into place and it was a feeling like coming home. Funny how even this small bit of human contact could make him feel so much better.

Of course, they didn’t get much time to enjoy it before Bean’s evil mom showed up to screw them over. It was becoming an increasingly common occurrence for her. Luci didn’t feel even the slightest bit bad when he bumped the candle from Bean’s hand into the oil on the floor. If anything, his only hope was that it had actually succeeded at blowing Dagmar to Kingdom Come.

He wasn’t as certain as Bean when it came to the usefulness - or wisdom - of rescuing Jerry. The man was an idiot but maybe that was the point… she’d failed to save a different idiot and mortals could be strange where guilt was concerned. If it made her feel a little better, maybe it was worth the detour.

_Such an Elfo sort of logic. Ridiculousness. Defiance of reason. Actually giving a damn about being kind to someone just because it might make her feel better._

_and why was he even thinking it?_

Despite Bean’s determination, they arrived too late to do anything for the poor sap. His body was an unmoving heap on the floor as they entered the chamber. Brainless, Jerry might have been, but it didn’t mean he could function well with a hole bored into his thick skull. Luci wasn’t generally one for tact - and he was mildly annoyed at his own moment of weakness in going along with this lunacy - but he couldn’t find it in himself to be anything but snide, even in the face of Bean’s frustration and pain.

“Hell of a body count you’ve racked up here, Bean. I’m impressed.” The biting words rolled from his tongue. “But it’ll never top what you did to Elfo.” There was no excuse for his bitterness. None. Except that Bean made a decision that Luci might not have been able to make himself.

_Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he could have made a decision at all, not given the options or the uncertainty. Not that he would have ever had two people to choose between or that the choice might have mattered._

“Oh, Elfo…” Bean’s voice had a wistful longing note to it that Luci felt all the way down to the black core of him, where no actual heart rested.

_Oh. Elfo..._

Bean was oblivious to the muddle of feelings her demon companion was struggling through, absorbed in her own grief and self-pity. “Elfo, wherever you are… I’m sorry.”

The crackle of static hit the air behind them, rising with a painfully familiar whiny voice. “I’m in heaven!”

And just like that, the world tipped on its axis and everything changed. Again.

-

It wasn’t that he expected Elfo would go to Hell. In fact, he’d known that he wouldn’t and that Elfo’s stupid shiny soul was out of the reach of his grubby paws. Still, the sound of the elf’s voice did something strange to his insides, making them feel soft and mushy somehow. It brought him back to that moment of shock when Elfo had taken an arrow in the back. He’d never felt more helpless. He never wanted to feel that way again.

So he wouldn’t. He gave himself no time for second-guessing, no time to wonder if he was doing the right thing or what the long term implications could be. All he could think was that Elfo being gone was untenable. He’d do anything… risk _anything_ to fix this flaw in the universe.

“Elfo! Go to Hell!” He almost leaned right into the fire. It wouldn’t have hurt him, but it wouldn’t have been helpful either. “I know I say that a lot, but this time I mean it literally!” The one time it wasn’t an insult, but was actually something intended to save the elf - _in a manner of speaking_ \- and of course Elfo took it all wrong. Funny how the idiot had ignored any number of blatant insults in the time they’d known each other and now that Luci was being sincere, Elfo was offended.

“I heard that!” Screw you, Jerko!” Honestly, if he didn’t need his message to get through the elf’s thick skull, Luci might almost have been proud that Elfo was too riled to be polite. As it was, Luci wanted to strangle him. Trust Elfo to learn the wrong lesson too well.

Bean stepped in before Luci could start really cursing and making the situation worse, but as the fire cut out into more static, he still had no idea if they’d be taking a risk for nothing. There was no way to know if the message had gotten through… not until they were actually in Hell.

His mind was already slotting together a plan, however improbable. The biggest flaw was how much he needed Bean’s participation for it to work…. 

_And yeah, it was a long shot, but that part didn’t concern him as much as it probably should have._

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Bean was just as desperate as he was. She was more than ready to jump on even the slightest chance of getting Elfo back, even when forewarned about the potential danger. Was it just her guilt? Did she have some other reason for needing Elfo back?

No. He didn’t want to think about that. It wasn’t like Bean had ever shown any kind of interest in Elfo beyond friendship - and their one drugged up kiss - so it was nothing to be concerned about. Not that there was anything to be concerned about, even if Bean did somehow have a romantic interest in the little green idiot…

_Right? Right._

Right.

-

So they went to Hell. Literal Hell. Luci hadn’t actually planned this out in as much detail as he’d led Bean to believe when they started out on this crazy mission. Given the nature of his half-assed plan to rescue Elfo, he couldn’t share the details with Bean… the element of surprise was paramount.

He hadn’t thought about what he would do when he got back here. Sure, it had been inevitable that he’d get back to Hell sooner or later since no mortal lived forever. His bond with Bean would be severed upon her death. If he was lucky and had done a good enough job of corrupting her mortal soul, he would be allowed to return with some privilege starting with the right to torment his former bond-human at his leisure for the rest of eternity.

Oh yeah, and he’d finally get his wings.

That wasn’t likely to play out the way he’d envisioned now. For whatever bizarre reason, something in his gut twisted at the thought of betraying Bean to his fellow Hell denizens. He told himself, somewhat less convincingly than he would have preferred, that it was just because he needed Bean. She was important if he wanted to get out of this intact… or at all.

_It occurred to him that he could have avoided a situation where he could potentially screw things up and screw over all three of them if he was simply willing to accept that Elfo was dead and beyond his reach._

But he’d seen Elfo fall. He’d entered processing and he was in hell now. Suck on that, Heaven! And being in Hell meant he was within Luci’s grasp. Finally.

It was just a matter of getting his greedy claws onto Elfo’s soul… and then dragging it back to the mortal realm to reunite with his hopefully intact corpse. Luci’s plan might not have been the most thought out or elegant, but at least he had one.

Still, it was hard to watch Bean’s face crumple at the realization that he’d sold her out… had sold both of them out. Luci puffed his chest as he mocked her, kept his ears up in a confident perked stance as he jeered at her, words cutting. “What, did you think I was your friend? Your little _Fuzz Buddy_?” There was a suspicious gleam of moisture at the corners of Bean’s eyes as his taunts struck deep. Bean always came across as tough but Luci had been given ample opportunities to see her weak, to witness all of her flaws and insecurities. There were so many weak points he could have exploited and despite the weird sinking feeling in his middle, he persisted, pushing further. He had to. “I’m a demon, god damn it!”

_But was he trying to convince Bean or himself?_

He waved with mock cheer as she was dragged away roughly. His brand new wings still tingled at his back reminding him of their presence. It had cost him something he wouldn’t admit to, in order to get them. He could only hope it would be worth it.

As he passed the other demons he knew their eyes were on him. Poor pathetic Luci, with no wings, no friends, and no prospects. Not so unimpressive now. Nevermind how small his wings were… he was finally a somebody in Hell, damn it.

All it would take was a change of heart… deciding not to actually go through with this crazy plan and he could own this whole place someday. No foolish mortals to muck with his demon badassery and give him confusing feelings that a demon shouldn’t even have been capable of feeling. Just Luci, looking out for number one like everyone else with any measure of intelligence would have.

He was still a little torn, half-convinced that he wouldn’t go through with it as he approached the cells. ‘To gloat’ he’d said and no one questioned him because it was just the way things were done. And just when he thought he’d decided and that there was no way he wasn’t going to just jeer and mock and be glad to be free of the mortals and their weaknesses, he heard their voices echoing through the corridors of the cell block.

Cursing him. Calling him names. He’d never heard anything so beautiful in his life.

_So yeah, this was the **why**. Funny that he was the one making bad decisions on the behalf of some stupid fleshy mortals._

He smiled first, standing just outside the door. He’d been half expecting them to be paralyzed with misery when he found them. Hell did tend to be pretty effective at finding ways to torture people by preying on their worst fears and doubts. The fact that his mortals still had enough spirit to cuss him out was both flattering and reassuring.

He’d made the right choice. He knew it now.

“I would also have accepted ‘A-hole’.” He chimed in on the subject of a suitable insult for himself. They gaped at him, wide-eyed and shocked as he leaned against the bars of the cell. “Hey there, gaspers. If you’re through insulting me, I’m here to rescue you.”

Of course they were ungrateful. He would have been more surprised if they hadn’t been, what with his seeming betrayal and all. Even after his explanation, there was a lingering tension to the atmosphere.

He’d thought ahead enough on this whole mission to plan for how they were supposed to get Elfo’s soul out to the mortal realm. Besides ghosts, there weren’t really a lot of souls that could survive for long outside of their fleshy bodies. Given the amount of difficulty that holding onto a soul would require - and to some degree, how hard it would be to maneuver with a loose soul in tow - Luci thought of an elegant but ironic solution. Enchanted bottles. Their primary purpose was for sealing away magical entities, especially demons and fairies (for differing reasons, of course). The irony of it certainly didn’t escape him. It was kind of delicious.

With Elfo’s soul now gripped in his clinging paws, he set about getting them the hell out of Hell.

It took a teeny bit more betrayal before he finally managed it and even with thinking it was worth all he was losing - 

_Holy Hell, what was wrong with him? Giving up his all for a couple of worthless fleshbags..._

-he assured himself it was worth it. The mad dash on the beach and the real sense of panic that bloomed in his chest as Bean struggled to reunite Elfo’s soul with his body… even that couldn’t make him regret it. He did miss his wings afterward, though. There were times when he’d forget the lack of them, trying to flex the nonexistent appendages and coming up with nothing. Being taller would also have been great, especially considering Elfo was a complete pushover but still had several inches on him.

Oh well… it was still worth it.

-

Why Elfo had to be so ungrateful, he’d never know, but the elf had been in a sour mood since the beach and their argument on the boat had driven it home for Luci in a way he hadn’t thought about before.

Everything. He’d given up everything for this and Elfo was sulking like the ungrateful little bastard he was. Luci had tried to be a bit understanding… the elf had been dead, after all… but there was only so much patience a demon - even a depowered and exiled one - could muster. He needed something to either distract himself or get back at Elfo and just when he thought he couldn’t take any more of this, something finally presented itself.

Or rather… he met Elfo’s ex-girlfriend.

Kissy was… well, she was something all right. From the first time she showed up and Elfo talked to her, Luci felt _something_. It settled under his skin and, being the impulsive creature he was, he had to chase after it. If it also happened to piss Elfo off… so much the better. The stupid ungrateful elf had it coming.

“So what is it you do, Luci?” That was one thing Luci actually liked about Kissy. She was constantly showing interest in him, asking him about himself. Elfo hadn’t done that in ages, the self-centered little bastard.

“I do whatever I want,” Luci rubbed his claws against his fur to polish them. Since they were as dark as the rest of them, it didn’t do much. “I’m always about numero uno, if you know what I mean.”

Her dark eyes lit with interest. “Oh! Habla Espanol?” It was immediately followed by more incomprehensible words as Luci sputtered, lost and unwilling to admit that he didn’t know most languages beyond a few base curse words.

“So, uh…” he struggled to change the subject to something, _anything_ else. “Elfo. The two of you were a thing, right?” He wanted to smack himself with how stupid that sounded. He didn’t want to hear about Elfo and Kissy being together! That was a mental image he didn’t need! Luci flailed mentally, trying to change to a subject that would either completely ignore Elfo or at least humiliate him somehow. “I bet he’s a lousy lay, am I right?”

Again, not what he’d been intending to say. It made sense, of course, to have ammo to humiliate Elfo with. Being able to torment him with knowledge of how crappy he was in the sack would work, but he could easily have just lied about knowing instead of having to worry about getting real evidence of it. His ears went back momentarily and he cleared his throat, trying to dislodge his own foot from it. “That is…”

“Well, no.” Kissy said and Luci felt a stab through his gut. Elfo had protested ages ago that he had a girlfriend, one that he’d actually done sex with before _thank you very much!_ , but Luci had ignored it like he ignored every other thing Elfo had ever said that might imply even a modicum of coolness. “Actually, he was okay. He was good with his mouth.”

_Again, an image that Luci **DID NOT** need. Elfo was good with his mouth. Holy Hells…. Well, he did have a surprisingly long and flexible tongue and Luci already knew how willing Elfo was to lick any available objects...That had a lot of potential..._

He shook himself out of it. That was definitely not something he wanted to think about. The idea of Elfo and anything sexual was just disgusting on every level. Stupid gross elf.

“So! Let’s talk more about how awesome _I_ am.” Luci interrupted any further discussion about Elfo’s relationship with Kissy. He didn’t want any more talk about Elfo. Besides, Kissy was right here and she was pretty attractive for an elf. Honestly, she was the kind of free-thinking, spirited woman a demon could fall in love with.

So he did. It made sense. This was love, right? Wanting to be with someone who made you feel important? Not someone who you took a big risk for only to have them kick you in the teeth afterward like an ingrate. His mantra. Demons didn’t love… couldn’t love… but he was in love with Kissy.

If he said it enough, it would be true.

-

He was miserable. Kissy was leaving him… just like that. He preferred to be the one doing the leaving in a relationship, like a proper asshole. His tail drooped, his gaze on her departing back. It had all been going so well. Elfo had been angrier than Luci had ever seen him before, a jealous little green ball of rage which was both amazing and also disturbing on a gut level.

Clammy green arms slid around him, embracing him and pulling him into the warmth of a small solid body. Luci didn’t have the strength to fight it. All he could do was stand there and take it. Stupid Elfo and his stupid pity.

“Oh Luci. The world is full of heartbreak and despair. No one ever gets what they want.” Luci wanted to punch him for not at least having the decency to be smug over his victory, instead of giving him this bullshit affection.

“I don’t want this hug.” It came out more sullen than angry. As much as it frustrated him, there was also a tiny sliver of something like relief. At least the little do-gooder was finally giving him some attention. Not that he needed it.

“I don’t care what you want.” Elfo smiled against him and Luci finally, reluctantly, melted into it, his ears drooping.

Damn it all… why did his hugs have to be so good? “You sweet bastard…” he muttered, feeling an accompanying stab of strong emotions. So confused. Elfo was soft and warm and…

And… he couldn’t bring himself to finish that thought. He buried it deep inside.

-

So he didn’t need the money, not really. Even without his powers, at least he wasn’t bound by the mortal need to eat and drink, so having a lot of gold was more for bragging rights than anything. But oh, the amount of bragging rights he’d have when he took these poor sick saps for everything.

On the plus side, sick elves were marginally more interesting than normal healthy ones.

The croak of a comatose elf waking up might have gone unnoticed normally, but this particular croak came from an extra annoying source. Pops’ voice was grating enough that Luci could definitely tell the similarities between him and his son. He darted over with more haste than he probably should have to check on the geezer.

He was probably dying. It wasn’t like Luci actually knew anything about how to help sick elves, much less ones with whatever these had. Bean and Elfo might actually find a cure for it on their quest but even if they did, Luci was making pretty good bank at the moment. He could afford to be a little generous, right?

_Ugh, he was slipping a little more every day… he could barely stand it._

“Where’s my boy, Elfo?” Pops asked and instead of telling him to shut it, Luci felt bizarrely compelled to answer instead.

“He and Bean went to get those berries you were talking about.” Luci supplied helpfully. Since it was Elfo’s dad, he waived his usual advisory fee. It was just a courtesy. He reminded himself afterward that it wasn’t in his nature to be generous, but that the proximity of so much riches had just driven him into a form of temporary insanity. Even if it hadn’t and he’d been generous just for the mercurial hell of it, it definitely had nothing to do with Elfo.

He reminded himself of that as he put a wet rag on the old elf’s forehead, and again as he changed it several hours later. One of the other elves whined about some folks getting preferential treatment and was promptly rewarded with a handful of pills crammed down his throat to shut him up. None of the other elves said anything about it after that.

When Pops finally croaked out his last breath, the feeling in Luci’s chest was so strange. He didn’t actually _care_. Not really. He didn’t know Pops well, in fact, most of his knowledge of the man had come from Elfo's Stories of horrifically casual abuse during his childhood. Just objectively speaking, Pops was kind of a monster… but Elfo cared about the old bastard for some reason and Luci could feel that knowledge sitting like a weight in his chest as he moved to grab hold of the blanket to cover the body.

Elfo showed up then like he always managed to do just in time for Luci to saddle him with more pain. He was doing a hell of a lot better job hurting Elfo now that he didn’t even want to.

“He’ll be with the crabs soon.” Luci offered, the only condolences he could manage. He just wasn’t built for it… for caring. For comforting. When Elfo asked for a moment alone to say his goodbyes, Luci was more than a little grateful to be turned away. His paws clenched on empty air before he took the legendberries from Bean and started squeezing them into the mouths of the other bedridden elves.

The mindless task wasn’t quite enough to block out the sound of Elfo’s pained voice, pouring out his grief and regret to a man who hadn’t deserved to have a son who cared this much about him. There was some small part of Luci that maybe took a bit of enjoyment in the fact that he’d finally bit it. He probably deserved it.

Then the old geezer started breathing again and Luci had to bite back the surge of resentment at Elfo’s momentary happiness about it. It lasted for all the time it took the old elf to speak. And if Elfo wasn’t entirely happy at finding out that his dad actually _had_ spent his college fund, at least he wasn’t depressed over his shitty father biting it. Overall it was probably a victory, personal dislike of the man aside. It wasn’t like Luci had to feel guilty over anything.

Not that he would have. He was a demon. But he definitely didn’t.

-

Being a bartender was proving to be one of the best decisions Luci had made in a while and it had only taken a bare minimum of cheating to accomplish. As he stood on his doorstep, he watched Elfo struggling to hang the new sign to let his drunken patrons know this was Luci’s place now. He was doing so alone because none of the other elves had volunteered to help and the rest of the patrons were human and thus already too drunk to be useful.

Elfo let out a soft cry as the wooden sign shifted in his grasp while he tried to attach it to the metal. He managed to catch hold of it before it fell but wobbled precariously on his beaten up ladder. Luci gave his tail an impatient swish. “Hurry it up already will you! I’ve got customers waiting.”

The elf whined, shaking his hand a little to relieve his pinched fingers. “You could be a little grateful, you know. I’m doing you a favour…”

“Oh, I know you are,” Luci replied coolly. “And it’s that kind of selfless action that makes you a sucker.” He did reach out with his paw to steady the wobbly ladder while Elfo tensed at the motion. They both stared at each other for a moment, Elfo still holding the sign while Luci was perfectly poised to give the ladder a firm shove and send the elf toppling. Oh, it was tempting all right. A few months ago he would definitely have done it. His paws itched.

But knowing their luck, Elfo would probably break his damn neck and manage to off himself. Luci’s ears went back and he let out a grunt, his grip steady on the ladder.

“Just hurry it up already.” He snapped in response to Elfo’s quizzical expression. He didn’t have to justify doing something generous. And he told himself this was in his own self-interest anyway. The sooner the damn sign was up, the sooner he could get back to overcharging customers for his watered-down drinks.

His brief outburst got results as Elfo managed to fumble through the job, still casting him strange expressions throughout the process. Luci refused to rise to the questions he knew were inevitable and when Elfo at last started to climb down the ladder, Luci finally gave it a shake. Elfo was only three rungs from the bottom at that point and the resultant shaking made him stumble on the last step, hitting the ground on his knees with a sharp yelp.

It wasn’t as satisfying as Luci would have hoped. Maybe it would have been better to do it while Elfo was still higher up. As it was, his mirth was painfully brief. He stalked back into the bar without even offering Elfo a hand up.

A few minutes later, when Elfo came limping inside, Luci passed him a drink. Due to a billing error on someone’s part, the excessively virgin drink was free. Functionally at least.

-

Luci was a man - or demon rather - of the world. There were some things that were simply too good to be true and someone offering out of the blue to help Bean steal from the royal coffers… well, the stealing part seemed legit enough. The part where they were doing it out of the goodness of their own hearts though? Luci smelled a rat. A pointy-eared rat in a tailored suit.

So, of course, he worked on his own plan while Bean and Elfo were busy being his unwitting patsies. It worked better that way. Bean would have been too upset at this deception to lie convincingly, though Luci knew she would have given it the old college try. This Grifto was a lot smarter than your average Dreamlander or even Land Viking and wouldn’t fall for such a ruse. And Elfo… well, he couldn’t tell Elfo. The little moron would have blabbed immediately. The elf has his uses of course: scapegoat, fall guy, doorstop, occasionally alcohol tumbler but co-conspirator was not one of them.

His suspicions were only heightened by some of the new facts he was learning about the elves. Most demon attention tended to be focused on humans. They were plentiful and getting even more so, they were tremendously unpredictable and they were actually nastier than demons in surprising ways. You just had to give them a slight push and they’d be backstabbing and murdering each other with glee. Other species were tougher to deal with and they were mostly dying out in favour of the humans anyway. So he’d never actually had cause to think about elves and their habits.

“Elves can’t grow body hair,” Elfo explained helpfully and it had the wheels in Luci’s head turning. He pondered on the strange circus elves, primarily, but for a moment his thoughts dumped tracks when Elfo tugged the front of his own shirt down to peer at his skinny green chest. “On the plus side, it means we’re always bikini ready.”

God damn him, but that was an image Luci neither needed nor wanted. No one needed to be thinking about Elfo in skimpy swimwear… it would have been a severe boner-killer if Luci’d ever elected to have genitals-

Which he could have if he’d wanted, Lust was one of the big human sins and thus worth committing if the opportunity presented itself, but what was the point if the only thing he was gonna get to see was Elfo’s weird green face? No thank you!

Luci struggled to wipe the mental image from his mind, reminding himself that he’d already seen Elfo naked before so how could this be any worse. But it definitely was.

While Luci was bustling about with physical activity, trying to keep his mind preoccupied, he came across something else unusual. One of the circus elves came out of the bathroom, his skin tight costume clinging to the smooth lines of his pecs. He was accompanied by a wave of steam, scented heavily with a strong cologne that made even Luci want to gag. It was the sort of thing that would have fit right in back in Hell. Luci rolled his eyes as he took his cleaning supplies into the bathroom. It was a distraction, if a disgusting one, when he looked at the mess in the sink.

He set to work scrubbing, his paws digging hard into the towel. His mind kept going to Elfo. Stupid Elfo. He was lucky that Luci didn’t feel like tormenting him at the moment because there were so many awful things he could do…

Luci’s paws halted for a moment, his ears going back and his eyes narrowing. Something was off here… He stared at the towel he was gripping, giving another cursory rub with it. His elbow knocked something to the floor with the motion and he fished it off the ground with his tail.

_Ahh..._ He’d been so caught up in not thinking about Elfo that he’d almost missed it. His demon senses were slipping. Luci held the razor up, his eyes narrowed. “Well now…” He gave it a small shake with his tail before dropping it back in the sink. “More and more interesting.” His tail swished thoughtfully but he said nothing more, humming a little as he cleaned the hair out of the sink.

This was just the distraction he needed. With some maneuvering, he’d even come out of it with some ill-gotten gains of his own.

-

He leaned against the doorframe, so casual that he was practically dripping with it. Bean was on the verge of a freak-out, understandably considering she’d just been had, but Elfo’s expression was uncharacteristically calm. His yellow eyes were fixed on Luci, something the demon was all too aware of but did his best to ignore.

“I bet at this very moment they’re kicking back and having a good laugh at you suckers.” The words rolled off Luci’s tongue like smoke and he rested one hand on his hip. Despite anything else going on, he had to grin with pride.

“Is he mocking us?” Luci didn’t expect much of any knight that came out of Zog’s royal guard. No one even marginally intelligent would have suffered under the employ of that royal dimwit for long, much less make a career out of it. Besides, he wasn’t the person this whole show was for.

He also didn’t have to answer the question because Elfo’s voice rose, steady and confident. “Yes.” Luci paused midway to bringing his cigarette to his lips again, his ears giving the faintest sideways twitch. Listening. “But when he puts his hand on his hip, he’s usually making a point.

When they’d first met Elfo hadn’t been able to tell when Luci was being sarcastic or genuine. Not even when ‘sarcastic’ was always the default answer. The elf had taken so much at face value, never questioning, never thinking about Luci’s nature… and now.

God damn, what was this strange feeling in his chest? It was probably a need to puke at the sound of Elfo’s irritating voice… or maybe he was just sickened to realize how effectively Elfo could read him now.

_And he’d paid attention… something Luci hadn’t considered Elfo capable of with anyone but Bean..._

Speaking of, Bean herself even with their bond, was much more uncertain than their elven companion. “Please let there be a point.”

Luci’s gaze fixed on his cigarette, staring at the glowing end of it, fiddling slightly between his fingers. “Yep, they’ll be laughing right up until the moment-” He let his words hang in the air deliberately for a second, “-they realize I swap out their gold coins for chocolate ones.” His eyes rose again, drinking in their expressions.

Bean had a look of dumb surprise on her face. It was delicious. “What?! How did you know?”

Elfo’s incredulous laugh was a bit meaner than it would have been once upon a time, especially considering it was at Bean’s expense. “Heh. The coins only look the same on the outside, Bean.” The elf’s tone was so catty… when had that happened? “Once you gnaw through the gold wrapper, it’s pretty obvious.” Proving once and for all that even ‘bad’ Elfo was clueless in virtually every way that mattered.

Except, apparently, for reading Luci.

But the demon supposed that if there was any useful skill for Elfo to have acquired in their time together, the ability to pay attention to him wasn’t a bad one. Not by a longshot.

Besides, Luci had been looking forward to his smug reveal. Taking them through the steps of his realization, showing off how observant he was and reminding them once and for all that he was the smart one in their little crew. And the wealthiest. And the most capable. Just… all and all he was the best one and they were lucky to get to hang out with him.

  
  


...and if he’d gotten one tiny detail wrong… well, who could blame him? He’d saved the day, damn it! “Well, I was still right on about them playing you, so I switched the coins.” He’d been technically correct - the best kind of correct, at least in Hell - about the majority of it. He’d more than earned the 35% he’d skimmed off the top.

Bean calling him a hero didn’t quite feel right. He had trouble wrapping his head around the idea. Elfo deciding to be a little dick by interrupting his moment of glory brought an odd mix of feelings to him. Stupid little attention stealer. His discomfort at this kind of praise be damned! He’d still earned it.

A little while later, riding on Bean’s horse and tossing coins to the waiting elves, Luci slipped around behind the princess to join Elfo on the back of the saddle. He watched as the elf scattered their hard-won loot from within arm’s reach. He told himself it was just in the off chance he could pocket a bit of extra gold for himself while Elfo was preoccupied.

He kept telling himself that, even though he didn’t take a single coin.

-

Bean’s little brother was a nuisance but at least up until now, he’d always been a distant one. The fact that Bean got annoyed with him did occasionally lead to moments of slight amusement though, even if the kid was about as bland as a bowl of overcooked porridge.

So, of course, Elfo would feel bad for the brat. It made total sense. The only surprising thing was that Luci hadn’t anticipated it happening beforehand. To be fair to him, he’d been mostly preoccupied in a rare indulgence. He hadn’t gotten to properly work on corrupting someone for a long time and here was a willing - nay, _eager_ fatass. Zog was far from the brightest bulb and Luci could see more than a little of Bean in him, but unlike Bean, Luci didn’t give a damn about the ultimate consequences of the man’s poor decisions.

He spent the next few days cramming food down the king’s throat, plying him with cigarettes and booze and generally being the bad influence he should have been on Bean all this time.

It had been satisfying. For a while, at least. But not enough that it felt worth it. He missed his bar. Zog wasn’t as diverting as Bean and Elfo and he wasn’t enough of a challenge. Whatever Bean and Elfo were up to, it was keeping them away and that was annoying too.

It wasn’t until he spotted Elfo passing by with Prince Derek close behind him that he put everything together. _Ugh_. It only made sense that two dorks like them would get along. They were probably off playing with dolls and talking about their _feelings_ or something. The things that made Luci want to gag or possibly commit arson. Instead, he shoved another sausage down Zog’s throat, verging on committing regicide by not bothering to give the king room to breathe.

“Hey Luci,” Bean peered inside while Luci was preparing Zog’s upcoming injection of bacon lard, butter, and melted cheese. He grunted in greeting, tempted to take a break from his task and leave Zog to stuff himself for a while. The thought was quickly shoved to the back of his mind as Bean continued, “Hey, have you seen Elfo?”

Pointy black ears went back for a moment in reflex before he forced them back up again. No. He wasn’t upset, god damn it. Especially not over something this stupid and pointless. “Last I saw him, he was going off to hang out with the royal pain.” He gave a flick of his tail in the general direction they’d gone off in. Maybe if he was lucky, Bean would find the elf and he’d be properly humiliated… which no longer seemed to happen as often when Luci tried it.

“Really?” Bean’s tone was a close match for what Luci had been thinking when he’d seen them earlier: a mix of incredulity and annoyance. Well, that was something, at least. “I’ll go see what he’s up to.”

“Yeah. You do that.” Luci muttered, mostly to himself. He stood there, bowl in hand, until he heard Zog’s grating voice.

“Hey! Cat! You still there? You’re supposed to be helping me out!”

The demon hopped up onto the chair beside the bed, slamming the bowl down so hard that the contents splashed out slightly onto the king’s front. Luci plopped a straw into the fatty mixture. “Yeah, yeah.” He stood there impassively as Zog began to guzzle the remaining contents down. “I’ll help you out, Lardo.” His voice came out low.

“What’s that?” Zog paused midway through a gulp and Luci’s fur spiked for a moment in alarm. Funny how being mortal made him a little more cautious about mouthing off to hot-headed imbeciles. But only a little.

“I said ‘Eat Up’! We’ve got a lot more on your plate for today.” His head craned around to where he could see the royal cooks carting in a platter of roasted meat covered in a rich cream sauce. “I mean that literally, of course. That’s a pretty damn big plate!”

His feet itched with the urge to follow Bean. Surely her catching Elfo playing house or whatever with her annoying kid brother would get an amusing response. But he had duties here and, more importantly, he didn’t need to be around Bean and Elfo to define himself, damn it. Not as Bean’s pet or personal demon and especially not as Elfo’s-

_not that, no. He couldn’t think it_

-”friend” or whatever. Luci was better than that. He was his own demon.

So he kept his dark feet planted, waving the cooks to set the new plates down in front of their soon to be super-sized monarch. Besides, he reasoned, Bean and Elfo would be the ones paying attention to him soon enough. They were just mortals. He could wait them out.

-

He wasn’t used to being trusted. Demons didn’t exactly inspire trust in mortal types, at least not unless they were possessing someone and lying about their identities and motives. Backstabbing and betrayal were the modus operandi of the breed. Bean had always kept him at a tiny bit of a distance since the beginning, at least up until Elfo died. The two of them being all they had left created a new kind of bond between them, one weirdly stronger than the actual bonding of Luci to Bean’s soul. Elfo’s return had slotted him right back into that empty hole he’d left in their lives, but now Bean was still actually _listening_ to Luci. When she wasn’t drunk, even!

He didn’t bother to hide his smugness as the pedantic little elf got kicked out, expelled from the writing process entirely. Luci had the place of importance at Bean’s side again and Elfo could just suck it. 

Bean was kind of a middling writer, but considering the general Dreamland attitude toward women and higher education - or really anyone and any noticeable amount of education - she was doing pretty good.

“So, elves again, huh?” Luci peered over her shoulder at her text, squinting thoughtfully. “Got them on the brain much?” He didn’t know what that was like. Elves were paltry things, not worth wasting mental energy on, much less anything else. “There are other things you could write about, you know.”

“Yeah.” Bean groaned, crumpling the paper in her hands. “It’s just not working! I thought if I just write something I know, I-” Her voice trailed off as the frustration overtook her.

“Well, if you’re writing what you know, you just need to make the elf more whiny and annoying.” Luci’s tail moved in a slow swish, brushing against the back of her shoulder. “It has the added bonus of making him more like all the actual elves we’ve met. Oh! And make him more pathetic too. Elves are pushovers.”

Bean nodded very slowly. “That is true…” The reply didn’t come as quickly or as easily as Luci expected and that was more than a little suspicious. He glanced sidelong at her. Her expression was strange, thoughtful, and he could feel something over the bond, could sense that her agreement wasn’t entirely enthusiastic. He prodded at her over their bond, trying to figure out why she wasn’t responding in the way he’d anticipated. What he touched on was just a wave of uncertainty and confusion.

It was centered on Elfo, somehow. He could tell that much. Whatever uncertainty she had wasn’t the same problem he was experiencing from his own non-feelings for the elf, but she’d clearly hit on something that Luci hadn’t been there for. It was… admiration? Maybe? His ears almost disappeared against the dark fur of his head and he smacked the spade of his tail down on the stack of her papers.

“Look, Bean. You didn’t hire me to lie to you-” he began, only to have Bean jump in.

“I didn’t hire you at all. You volunteered.” Oh, logic.

Luci waved away her concerns. “Details. You see Bean, this is your problem. You’re too worried about the small details and you’re losing sight of the big picture!” Humans did tend to be incredibly short-sighted, especially with it came to dealing with emotional stuff. Demons were much more logical about things like that, choosing to not bother with feeling silly soft things. It was clear to Luci that Bean was getting in her own way with this and picking an elf for her protagonist - _and why an elf?_ \- was just compounding that fact. Every single elf they knew was literally _the worst_. Especially Elfo. “No one cares about elves! That’s the hard truth of being a writer! You can’t just write about anything you have an idea for. You need to appeal to your audience.”

Bean was listening. Luci could tell by the slight furrow to her brow as she considered his words. At last, she spoke. “But who is my audience?”

The demon hopped down from Bean’s work desk, padding across the floor to hop up on the windowsill. “Over here, Bean.” After a few seconds of standing there uncomprehending, like a moron, the princess eased over to stand beside him, peering out onto Dreamland. “This is your audience. They’re a bunch of dirty, unhygienic idiots who are just looking out for themselves. They’re not going to be able to identify with some nicey goody-two-shoes who isn’t even human. You need to give them what they want!”

“And what’s that?” Bean asked, just a little hesitant.

“Oh, you know. Sex. Intrigue. Betrayal. Death. All that drama.”

Bean nodded slowly at that, her expression thoughtful. “Yeah. Okay, I think I get you.” She shoved aside the stack of parchment she’d been writing on, reaching for another sheaf of paper. She chewed for a moment on the quill of her pen before her eyes lit up. “I think I’ve got it!” She bent over the desk again, the room filled with the scrape of her pen strokes on the paper. She was so caught up in her work that she didn’t even notice Luci still watching her.

The demon hopped down from the desk, padding over to the spilled stack of papers from Bean’s rejected story and snagging one of them at random. In this particular scene, the elf was arguing with a demon. A particularly sexy, badass demon, of course. At least, Luci read him that way.

“Write what you know, huh?” Luci muttered under his breath. This wasn’t an argument he and Elfo had ever actually had but it rang true enough. It got to the point where the two were bickering, right up close together and Luci felt an uncomfortable squeeze in his chest. The scene just cut off mid-argument, like Bean hadn’t known how to end it.

Luci grimaced, then darted a glance up at Bean who was too distracted by her new writing to notice him. He hopped carefully back up onto the table, dipped the spade of his tail into the vial of ink, then jumped back down. Half hidden under the desk, Luci took up the rejected paper and began to write.

~

_The elf looked at the demon pressed close in against him and then his gaze darted away. The fight bled out of him, his arms going weak for a moment. “I didn’t come here to fight.”_

_“You didn’t?” The demon scoffed at that notion. “Then why are you here?”_

_Warm gold eyes rose to meet the demon’s dark, steady stare and his lips tugged at the corners in a hesitant smile. “I just came here to thank you.”_

_The demon froze, uncomprehending, then spat out in a voice that tried to be harsh. “Thank me? Thank me for what?”_

_“For saving me.” At the elf’s words, the demon’s anger melted away into something else. He wanted to yell but instead his hand brushed against the elf’s who turned his own hand to grip. “I would have been lost without you._

_“Thank you, Luci.”_

~

His tail scratches came to a halt as his own name stood out on the paper, stark and accusing. His ears went flat, breath seizing in his chest for a moment. He threw a quick look at Bean who was still too preoccupied to notice anything amiss. As he looked back down at the paper with his own name being presented with actual gratitude for everything he’d gone through, he felt a wash of mingled anger and unhappiness. He couldn’t even have this, could he? He didn’t even rate _that_ much.

“Yeah…” He muttered to fictional Elfo, gripping the parchment in his claws. “You’re welcome.” He tore the paper in half, crumpling it and mashing it in his paws. As he stalked toward the door he threw the mauled parchment into the open flames of Bean’s fireplace. He didn’t even pause to watch it burn. He just stalked out the door.

-

  
  


“So, Luci… uh..” Elfo was almost bouncing on his toes, a gesture that was either excitement or nervousness. “Do. you… want to go get dinner?” The two of them hadn’t spoken too much since Elfo had almost gotten himself beheaded - an incident where Luci honestly wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or disappointed at the stayed execution - and Luci was still in what the elf might have termed _a mood_. So this overture didn’t fully register at first.

“What?” Luci snapped his head up, still vigorously rubbing his cleaning rag against the bartop. “What do you want now?” His tone was a bit harsher than whatever the elf had actually said should have warranted, but a lot of his foul mood was still Elfo’s fault so he wasn’t feeling too generous.

“Uh…” Elfo hesitated, was silent for a few long seconds before swallowing and trying again. “D-did you want to get dinner?”

“What, with you?” Luci’s brain blanked for a few seconds as he struggled to figure out what that seemingly innocuous question meant. Had Elfo just actually realized he’d upset Luci and was now trying to suck up? Was Elfo going to give him some bad news and was trying to soften the blow? What? Was he dating Kissy again? Had the idiot finally gotten up the cojones to actually confess to Bean?

_Was Elfo asking him out on a date?_

The last thought flickered through him for a moment and he immediately quashed it. Why was he even considering that? It would never happen. And if it somehow _did_ happen, he wasn’t interested at all. It wasn’t like he was fool enough to get himself attracted to some whiny, dinky little elf anyway. So, of course, it wasn’t -

“There’s this fancy new restaurant that’s just opened up in Elf Alley,” Elfo rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, his gaze darting to the side as he shuffled in place, biting his lip. “I thought maybe we could go and have dinner…”

_Holy hells, it **was** a date._

Luci stood there, stunned, his eyes gone wide for a moment. His claws clenched at thin air a few times as he struggled to digest the words and all their implications… but most of all he was trying to sort through his own feelings. He was expecting revulsion, or maybe amusement. He could have laughed right in Elfo’s stupid squashed green face, should have, in fact. Instead, he felt his nonexistent guts twisting so tight that for one blinding second he felt like he might throw up. He swallowed hard, trying to steady himself.

Wanting to puke when Elfo asked him out was a good sign, actually. It meant he was just that turned off by the idea. Yeah. That was reassuring.

“You want me to go to dinner. With you.” The words came out as more of a croak than a taunt. That didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was going to say no. No. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”

That had definitely not been the ‘no’ that Luci had intended to say. By the time it sank in with him, he’d stood there, stunned, for too long to be able to play it off as a cruel joke at Elfo’s expense. The seconds passed and Elfo’s expression turned to excitement and relief.

“This is going to be great!” Elfo closed the distance between them with a hug that Luci could neither fight nor rebuke. He just stood there, unmoving, letting the elf maul him in a too-friendly fashion until Elfo was finally hugged out. As he released Luci, he was almost bouncing. “I’ll be by the bar around… maybe six-thirty? Does that sound okay?”

“Yeah.” Luci wasn’t even aware of himself talking. His own voice was just ringing in his ears, unbidden but admirably steady. “Yeah, sure.” He couldn’t manage a scoff, even as Elfo finally left, almost skipping in his excitement. Slowly Luci set his cloth down, both paws braced on the counter. His claws dug into the smooth wood as he stared blankly down at it.

What was he doing? Going out with the elf? That wasn’t who he was, damn it! His tail lashed behind him. He really should have called the elf back and canceled this whole date thing and maybe taunted Elfo for his stupid romantic overtures while he was at it.

But for some reason, he didn’t.

He put the rag away after rubbing the same clean spot on the bar for several minutes. The bar would start getting its evening rush of patrons soon. At least then he wouldn’t have to think about how bad a mistake this whole thing was.

-

He wasn’t looking forward to his date. He definitely wasn’t. In fact, he was probably dreading it. It explained the heavy feeling in his middle whenever it crossed his mind, the clench so tight it made him pause every once in a while. Every time the bells sounded the hour, his ears twitched and he froze while counting. It was the countdown to his inevitable execution.

He was more frazzled than he would even have admitted as the six pm bells sounded. He hopped down from the bar, shooing out too-slow patrons and moving to shut and lock the doors. He put up the “We’re Closed! Go Home Losers!” sign. Then there was nothing to do but wait.

He ignored the knock on the door at first. It came from way too high up to be from an elf so it was probably just another illiterate Dreamlander wanting to get boozed up. Despite his blatant refusal to respond, the knock came again. And again. Finally, it was followed up by a voice he knew all too well.

“Luci! You in there?” The demon grumbled a little as he sauntered over to open the door for Bean. She eased in as he pushed the door open, smiling down at him. “Thanks, Luci.”

“Don’t mention it.” Luci grimaced at this interruption in his plans. “So what brings you here? I know you can read.” He tipped his head toward the door where the sign was obvious.

“What?” Bean blinked. “Oh, I’m here for dinner! Elfo thought it would be easier for us to meet here.”

For a few seconds, Luci stared at her. Elfo had invited Bean to dinner too? His first thought was ‘oh Elfo, you sly dog.’ Doubling up on a date was exactly the kind of thing a demon would have done. It was something Luci himself might have tried once upon a time. It was way more annoying when it was someone else doing it to him though and he couldn’t help a brief surge of frustration and an accompanying strong desire to strangle the two-timing elf.

It did finally occur to him that he’d been mistaken… that there was a far more obvious reason, one that wasn’t ‘Elfo is a sneaky bastard’. This was a friend dinner. Elfo still had a thing for Bean, even if he was less annoying about it now, and there was no way he would have invited Luci to an evening with someone he had a thing for… not if he’d been hoping to get lucky.

He’d invited them both because they were ‘friends’ and he wanted to do something ‘nice’ for them.

“Hey, Luci… you okay?” Bean dropped to one knee beside him and he gave himself a shake.

Stupid. He’d been stupid. He waited for the wash of relief, the realization that things weren’t going to be awkward. He wouldn’t be fighting off Elfo’s ridiculous advances or worrying about the elf trying to kiss him or any disgusting things like that. It wasn’t a letdown, it was a positive. “Yeah.” The word came out clipped as he shoved as much of his worries and thoughts down as he could. _Listen to yourself. You’re **fine**. You never wanted him anyway so what does it matter if he doesn’t want you?_ He had to say something more or Bean might catch on. For a stupid, hapless mortal she was surprisingly perceptive at times. Luci chalked it up to some kind of animal instinct. “He’s just late. Like always.”

Bean nodded, fooled by his ruse. “Oh yeah. That’s classic Elfo, am I right?” Something about her tone made the demon scowl.

“What is this, Bean? Are you doing a bit or something?” He didn’t have much patience for unfunny attempts at humour, or much of anything else for that matter. He could tell that Bean realized it immediately. She crumpled a little under his skeptical gaze. Before she could answer his snappish question and make things somehow even more awkward than before, there was another knock at the door. This one was at elf level.

Finally! Luci didn’t stop to think about the fact that it might be someone else, especially since drunk - or hoping to get drunk - elves were a common occurrence here. He opened the door with a sharp jerk of his hand, catching Elfo mid-way through another knock. Luci wasn’t entirely sure what expression he had on his face at the moment but judging from Elfo’s reaction - a wide-eyed stare that turned into a timid but placating smiling - it wasn’t a very reassuring one.

Elfo fumbled over his words as he eased past Luci. “Oh good… you’re both here.” His relief at seeing Bean as well was almost palpable. Luci certainly wasn’t surprised by it, but it still sat under his skin like a persistent itch. “So are we ready to go?” Elfo rubbed his hands together. “I already made reservations, so there shouldn’t be a wait.”

“Yeah, sure.” Luci tried for flippant but his voice sounded flat, even to his own ears. He would feel Bean’s eyes slide over him and the tingle of her slight curiousity coming across their bond, but thankfully she said nothing. She did hold back a little as Elfo led the way to Elf Alley, looking down at him.

“You okay, Luci?” She asked when Elfo was a few steps ahead and going on about some dish that this place served that they absolutely had to try.

He bristled a lot less with her than he would have if it had been Elfo asking the same question. Bean was less prone to annoying fussing. She had her own shit to worry about. The fact that she was bringing it up at all… was pretty flattering, actually. It was a tribute to how important he was to her and what demon (or ex-demon) could resist that? “Yeah.” He looked ahead of them to where Elfo was walking in front of them, bouncing in anticipation. “I’ll deal.” She might have said more but Elfo was coming back to greet them, catching hold of Bean’s hand to drag her along.

Luci followed, hanging back a little longer, his eyes dropping until it felt like he was following their shadows rather than a pair of living, breathing mortals.

It was just dinner. He’d get over it.

-

Okay, so it had been a stupid plan. When he’d tricked Elfo into agreeing to be roommates, he hadn’t been thinking too hard about all the problems and implications of the arrangement. It had been half contrarian need to trick the elf in some way and half need for attention. Both halves had been completely lacking in foresight regarding what this would actually entail.

But he wasn’t a quitter. Not unless he got bored or decided he was going to be distracted by something else. Or if things were damaging to his badass reputation. Or if someone else wanted him to _do the thing_ and he was in a mood not to.

Okay, so he quit things all the time. It had no bearing on this. He wasn’t going to stop being roommates with Elfo until he got his due… or until one of them strangled the other to death. Either/or.

But his determination hadn’t prepared him for the reality of being so close in proximity to Elfo all the time. In the castle, Luci had slept on Bean’s bed and Elfo inevitably spent his nights in Socerio’s cramped cage, surrounded by the wizard’s other varied possessions. The elf’s sleeping habits were, therefore, a mystery to Luci… one that he’d only become further confused by when he sneaked into Elfo’s room one night, less than a week into their new living arrangements.

“Why do you sleep fully dressed?” Luci asked with overwhelming casualness the next morning. It wasn’t like he’d wanted to see Elfo in a state of undress or anything. He’d seen Elfo’s meager dick hanging out quite enough on wash day, but still… what kind of bizarre idiot slept in all his clothes? The elf even had his hat and shoes on in bed, for crying out loud!

“What?” Elfo answered, no hesitation as he continued talking, all without wrapping his head around the actual question. “I don’t know. I’m used to it. Elves don’t like being naked.”

Luci begged to differ on that count. Kissy’d definitely had no problems with being naked and from the few elves he’d had the displeasure of ‘escorting’ out of his bar while roaring drunk on the pathetically watered-down booze, he was guessing they didn’t give a shit about it either.

“Nah, man. Trust me. It’s you.” He didn’t miss the slight widening of Elfo’s eyes or the hint of a flush rising to his cheeks as he stared at Luci.

“W-wait… do you… see a lot of naked elves?” Was that _jealousy_ in that moment of hesitation and the slight pitchiness of Elfo’s voice? He imagined it was. Luci leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and refused to answer the posed question, knowing how much more it would frustrate Elfo to not know.

“You even had your shoes on. Who sleeps in their shoes?”

That flush only deepened as Elfo fidgeted, his gaze darting down at himself, even as he tugged the hem of his shirt like he was trying to cover his body further. “I…” his voice cut out in a frustrated whine and Luci felt a bubbling warmth somewhere in his midsection. Satisfaction. “It’s fine. I’m used to it…”

“Not what I asked, but okay.” Luci smiled, flashing his fangs. He let the following silence go on for nearly a minute while the elf stood there, tense and waiting. It wasn’t until he started to relax incrementally that Luci went in for the kill. “I saw Kissy naked.”

Elfo’s expression was torn between so many warring emotions that for a while Luci wasn’t sure which one was going to come out on top. Embarrassment and humiliation were strong in the slight hunch of his shoulders, but there was a tremble to the curl of his fingers that made Luci think he must have been angry or maybe jealous. Oh yeah, he was good at getting under Elfo’s skin. It was a skill he had every intention of using as often as possible. He could push the elf until he broke if he wanted to.

_Oh, he wanted to. For some reason he was aching to take Elfo apart, to get under his skin until the elf was feeling some fraction of the sheer frustration he experienced every time he was near Elfo._

Elfo turned away from him then, taking a breath. He’d been on the verge of giving way under Luci’s pressure but just like that, he’d broken free. “Why do you even know that?” He asked, still shaky. “Did-” His voice rose again as another realization sank in. “Were you sneaking into my room?”

Luci shrugged, not bothering to deny it. “It was fine when you were doing it to Bean, right?” He saw Elfo flinch at that and grinned. Predictably his pointed question got no response from the elf. Hypocrite. Elfo just retreated back to his room and shut the door. Luci rubbed his claws against his chest and examined them, waiting. He heard the scrape of the door being locked, just as he’d expected. It didn’t matter. He was an expert at picking locks with his tail. If he wanted to get in, nothing as simple as a locked door would stop him.

Besides, he had other matters on his mind. He was getting to the elf, for sure. Elfo was jealous. Maybe he was still carrying a torch for Kissy. Maybe he just wanted attention and his current awkwardness with Bean didn’t leave him with a lot of options. Either way, Luci was going to capitalize on it. Maybe he’d even get the elf to admit how much he needed Luci around. Since he didn’t have to corrupt Bean, he needed something else to focus on. This would do.

-

Elfo was being a pain to harass. He was keeping his room locked at night and spending most of his time hanging out with Luci only when he could have Bean around as a buffer. Well, if that was how he wanted to play it, Luci could deal with it. Yes, he could simply have jimmied the lock and done something awful to Elfo’s room, but if he knew the elf - and he did - there were other things that would get to him even more.

“Hey guys!” He called out to the bar’s patrons as he pushed another round of drinks across the counter. “This is a good booze up, but you know what’d be even better? If we all continued this party at my place!” There were a couple of confused sounds from the drunk bar patrons but if Luci knew drunks - and he did, as well as he knew Elfo - it wouldn’t take much to get them enthused about the change of venue. “Free drinks and weed for everyone… back at my place.” There was another round of scattered cheers and a few folks actually lurched from their seats. Luci ushered them out the door, prodding any slow goers with his tail.

It took more doing than was probably worth it just to get to Elfo, but he eventually herded nine humans and two elves into his tiny apartment where they proceeded to break a couple of chairs and every piece of dishware in the structure. Luci kept waiting for Elfo to come out of his room, irate and whiny, but it never happened. The damn elf must’ve had earplugs in, to be able to ignore the racket. Unless he wasn’t actually in his room right now at all… maybe he’d found someone willing to take him home for the night?

No. No, it just wasn’t possible. He had to be deeply asleep.

Luci swallowed down a few deep draughts of his own booze, pouring himself more as he watched one of the humans stagger a couple of steps and drop trou to piss on Elfo’s end table.

_Elfo has this coming_ was the thought repeated on loop. One of the elves was drunk enough that he seemed to forget Luci was a demon or weird cat or whatever and he ran his hands down to Luci’s ass in a way that would have gotten him stabbed in the face with Luci’s tail spade if Luci weren’t so caught up with the unwelcome thoughts about Elfo.

The elf was Elfo-sized and roughly Elfo-shaped and most importantly he was in Luci’s room right now instead of either hiding or off with some person who wasn’t Luci.

He was so fucking drunk that he couldn’t even think straight anyway. He could only hope that random not-Elfo was as drunk as he was right now so he wouldn’t remember Luci grabbing him and shoving his tongue down his throat. Maybe he’d think the claw marks on his arms were from a bar fight and not from some demon’s crazed need to touch _someone_.

Nothing about the elf felt or tasted right and Luci drowned it all out, killing the taste in his mouth with more hard liquor and pushing the unsteady elf down onto the carpet, knocking over a bowl of snack food that was rapidly crushed into the fibers of the rug. His hips snapped against some random bit of the body under him, even though he had nothing he could actually rub against the unknown elf below him except the short fur along his belly.

The elf groaned, voice too low in pitch to be Elfo-

_Not that it mattered. It didn’t. He didn’t need that… wasn’t looking for it..._

-and Luci recoiled without thinking about it, knocking over the lantern sitting on the still intact table. It flickered out after hitting the floor, guttering for a moment and allowing him a view of the male elf’s surprised face. Luci staggered back toward the liquor bottles, hissing as he barked his haunch against an overturned chair.

Small hands brushed against him again, low on his belly and skirting lower and he let out a snarl as he clocked the elf against the side of the head. The elf went down like a fallen tree, a dark puddle spreading under him that could have been piss or blood or spilled booze. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Elfo hadn’t come out and all of a sudden the presence of a bunch of drunken assholes wasn’t entertaining anymore.

“Get out.” He rasped, his tail tip jabbing at the nearest human who looked at him uncomprehending, still clinging to one of Elfo’s delicate glasses in an ungainly paw of a hand. Luci slapped it out of his grasp. The sound of it shattering against the floor took the last frayed bit of his composure with it. “ ** _GET OUT!!!_** ” The words didn’t come from him, they couldn’t have. They were too big to fit in this entire room, much less his own miniscule body.

The drunk bar patrons finally started to stagger out then, guided by his impatient claws and the lash of his tail. They took out most of the remaining furniture and dishes while scrambling to leave. Luci grabbed hold of the unconscious elf he’d made out with and ragged him across the floor. He almost tripped over the heavy little form as he got him to the door, pitching him headlong out of it and down the stairs.

Maybe he was dead. Whatever. Luci didn’t care. He couldn’t.

He grabbed the beer, pouring himself more with shaking paws, sinking down with his back against Elfo’s door as he swallowed it down. His breath came ragged, one paw running down the mussed fur of his belly, rubbing against nothing, his hips bucking to his own touch fruitlessly.

-

Luci woke when Elfo opened the door, the world bleary around him as he struggled to open his eyes. The room was still spinning. How much had he drunk? He didn’t even know. Elfo was staring down at him in outrage.

“Oh! Luci!” He must’ve been there in his room the entire time. How had he not known what was going on? Luci barely had the energy - physically or mentally - to do more than twitch his ear a little, even when Elfo kicked him. “Did you have a party?!” Well, doy. There was a momentary pause and then Elfo spoke again, softer, with a wavery note to his voice. “-without me?”

It was what he’d hoped for, bringing all those strangers home, but right now Luci felt nothing but a hollow tiredness. He ached and his head ached and for some reason the sound of Elfo’s whiny voice inexplicably made him want to hump the nearby table leg which was a feeling he needed far more booze to even begin to deal with. “Yeah, man. I didn’t want to wake you. Or invite you.”

_Lies. Such a fucking **liar**._

Elfo didn’t even notice the dissimulation. He sputtered and looked own at Luci with an expression of hurt that slid beneath Luci’s fur like a knife. “But…but... I’m your roommate!”

Luci fumbled for a nearby container of booze. It had mostly spilled all over the floor already but he didn’t care. He swigged it without ever tasting it. “So stay in your room, ‘mate’.” He was too numb to deal with this shit right now, halfway wishing that Elfo would just get angry… yell… hit him-

_Hold him, pet him, run his silky green hands over the ruffled fur of Luci’s tummy where he could still feel the phantom sensation of another touch_

-anything... but Elfo just whimpered and pouted. “But that is…” flustered pause, like he hated to admit it. “-quite a clever turn of phrase, actually.” He threw his hands up. “I’m still hurt!”

The slam of the door reverberated through Luci’s sprawled form, Elfo’s soft mutter about him being an a-hole should have been satisfying but it just wasn’t. “Hey, can you keep it down in there? I’m trying to roll around in my own filth!” There was no response; he hadn’t expected one but it still settled deep in him somehow, a feeling even more shitty than his hangover. Luci turned his head, scraped his claws into the wooden floor and barely managed to flip himself over before his stomach gave way and he emptied its contents across the rough planks.

-


	2. Chapter 2

-

  
He wasn’t the one to clean up. He could use the excuse of his work to get out of it since Elfo didn’t technically have a damn job. The mooch. He was paying for the rent out of his savings or something. More importantly, he didn’t bring up the party to Luci again.

A day passed. Bean was suspiciously absent which would have bothered Luci more if he hadn’t been avoiding Elfo anyway. As soon as he dragged himself in from bartending, he crawled into his own room and buried himself in the covers. It took a while but he was finally able to doze off.

Only to be woken by the strangest racket he’d ever heard. “Ugh… What the hell?!” Dragging himself out of bed, he limped to the door, poking his head out. The sight in front of his eyes was even stranger than the sound by itself had been. For a moment, he almost thought he was having some weird-ass dream.

Elfo was serving pancakes to a bunch of ducks. Very loud ducks. How the hell had he gotten ducks up the stairs?

“Oh come on!”

Elfo turned to look at him, his expression one of too-sweet mock sincerity. Luci wanted to slap that mock naivety right off of the elf’s weird green face. “Oh, so sorry.” When had he gotten so damned catty? “I’m throwing a little pancake party, but you’re not invited.” Subtlety was obviously not Elfo’s forte… neither was having a plan that wasn’t the most ridiculous possible thing Luci had ever heard of. This was the kind of stupid attempt to get his goat that Luci should have been able to just brush off. But Elfo was waving a pancake and turning away from him with a mock cheery “Byyyyye” and Luci was unreasonably pissed.

If Elfo was going to get some kind of ‘revenge’ on him, he could have at least come up with an actual good plan. Not...whatever the fuck this was. “This is the best revenge you could come up with?” There was no use for either of them trying to hide what this was… a stupid, juvenile roommate pissing contest. “Waking me up at the crack of dawn with a stupid duck party? What is wrong with you?!”

He could practically feel Elfo rolling his eyes at that, like he was blissfully unaware of how much his stupid plan sucked. “Honky is not a duck.” _Like that even mattered?!_ Elfo continued, and Luci could see the smile on his face in profile as his head was turned ever so slightly. “But, let me guess… I hurt your feelings? Cuz… you’ve been left out.”

No. God damn it. No. It was nothing to do with hurt feelings. He was just annoyed, damn it. He could be annoyed about loud noises at the buttcrack of dawn! He’d only just gone to sleep!

“No!” He almost sputtered at the implication. “I’m just pissed!” He barked the words back, ears pinned and tail lashing. His breath was coming hard and he had to clench his claws into his palms to avoid just smacking the pointy-eared asshole.

“Welcome to the club!” Elfo snapped back, losing any attempt at composure. “Which now has two members!” He jabbed a finger in Luci’s direction before pointing his thumb at himself. He was on the verge of losing it. Elfo talking to the stupid ducks like they were people only made it that much worse. “No!” He raged at the animals, swatting them away with his small green hands. “No, you can’t join! No geese allowed!”

“You’re insane!” Luci stalked back into the room, determined to end this nonsense and go wallow in his own anger and misery for a little while. 

Elfo’s voice shot back after him, “I must be!” His voice pitched higher and shriller. “I tried to live with a heartless, inconsiderate jerk, who only cares about his tiny self!” It was the way he said it that got its barbs in deep though. Like he’d been the one wronged. How dare he take that tone? That did it. Elfo was being such a petty little bastard that Luci couldn’t stand it anymore

“Tiny?!” Luci latched onto the word. It was the symbol for everything he was angry about, even if it was meaningless by itself. He leaped at Elfo, claws sinking into the coarse fabric of his shirt, digging for flesh. Elfo yowled and slapped at him, the two of them rolling around on the table. The pancakes were getting squished into his fur, syrup matting at his lower back. He would have clawed even harder, gone for blood, if thick, powerful duck beaks hadn’t started hammering down at them.

Elfo flailed beside him, both of them struggling to get away from the irate animals. Finally, Luci rolled off the table, onto the floor, with a thud. Upon escaping the angry ducks, he fled back to his room until the noises subsided. Hopefully, that meant the ducks had left.

He had no idea what happened to Elfo. Sitting with his back to the door, he strained to hear what was going on. After a few minutes of no sound, he opened the door a crack, peering out. Elfo was still there, but the ducks seemed to be gone. There were feathers scattered all over the place, clinging to Elfo’s semi-prone form. For a moment, Luci couldn’t see him moving and he felt his paw tense against the door handle. Then he saw the jerky rise of Elfo’s thin chest, heard the pained wheeze escaping him. He let out a short breath of his own before pulling the door open the rest of the way.

Stepping outside, still wary of potential lingering waterfowl, Luci sauntered over to where the elf was sprawled and stood there, looking down at him. “So.” He let the word linger on his tongue for a few seconds. “You done?”

Their eyes never met. Elfo’s gaze darted away as he finally pushed himself into a sitting position, his knees drawn up to his chest. He sniffled for a second, wiping his nose and leaving sticky syrup and pin feathers clinging to his cheeks and chin. “Yeah.” He let out a shaky sigh and finally looked up at Luci. The fight had gone out of him, his anger from earlier burned away, leaving Luci facing only a slight confusion and that same hurt look from earlier. He was searching Luci’s expression for something and the demon wasn’t sure what. 

He was impassive. He wasn’t giving the elf anything.

“Why…” Elfo began, then paused with a soft laugh that held no actual humour to it. “Luci. You don’t… we don’t have to be roommates if you don’t want to. I know you’re just trying to save money or something, but you could find plenty of people you can trick into paying the rent…” He braced his hands against his knees, biting his lip. 

Despite his resolve, Luci’s eyes widened at that, his fingers clenching. Leave it to Elfo to totally miss the point of all this. “That’s not what I want!” It came out harsher than he meant it to, more defensive. But he didn’t need another roommate, didn’t want one. This was between the two of them and the fact that Elfo didn’t - seemingly couldn’t - see that, cut into him. His voice sounded peevish to his own ears. “I don’t care about the rent. I don’t need your money.”

Elfo looked up, disheveled, the fluff on his face standing out in sticky spikes and a spreading bruise on his cheek. He looked lickable. “Then why-” His voice trailed off again, a flicker of something in his eyes that Luci couldn’t identify. He bit his lip. “I don’t want to fight.”

Did Luci want to fight? It wasn’t really the point, he just wanted attention and Elfo wasn’t giving it to him. Saying that went against everything in him though. Even though he wasn’t really a proper demon, even without the need to be evil, it was hard to give his pride up. “Yeah.” Then. “What do you want?”

There was a hint of hope in Elfo’s expression. “Can’t we be friends? Like before?”

Before. That seemed so long ago.

He wanted to say, in his moment of lingering anger, that they were never friends, that it was all a product of Elfo’s overeager imagination. He wanted to say it. But it wasn’t true and he was too emotionally stripped down to lie as easily as he should have. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, it was what he wanted too. He wasn’t sure why it was harder to be friends with Elfo now that he was done with denying they were friends at all.

_Well… there was a reason, it sat at the back of his mind far more often than he wanted it to and refused to be easily driven away but…_

“I-” He snapped his mouth shut with a hiss, looked at Elfo who was staring at him with a complete lack of dignity that went deeper than just the fact that he had feathers sticking to the syrup on his cheeks. God damn him. He swallowed, bobbed his head in a curt nod that tried to hide the myriad other emotions swirling through him. It took a moment longer to find his words and they came out more shaky than dismissive. “Yeah. Sure.” He had to turn his gaze away then, catch the breath he didn’t actually need.

  
He could feel Elfo’s gaze on him and half-expected - but fully wanted - a hug like the one Elfo had offered him back in the bar after Kissy had broken up with him. But it didn’t come. When he turned his head to look, Elfo was sitting there, his legs dangling off the edge of the table, his expression distant in a way that wasn’t really familiar in his dealings with the elf. It was like when he’d think about Bean, usually right before Luci would tease him. But unlike when Elfo was thinking about his crush on Bean, this time Luci couldn’t read into his emotions at all. For once, the elf was inscrutable to him.

Luci opened his mouth, needing to say something - anything - to break the silence and the weird vibe in the room but Elfo beat him to it. “Okay.” He said. And that simple word was somehow terrifying because of how little it really gave him.

Was Elfo upset? Resigned? It was impossible to tell. Luci felt a longing ache for those first weeks, those first months after they’d just met when could lay Elfo bare with just a glance. He’d been so simple, a too-innocent soul with a glow to it that could draw even a demon. Even without it, Luci couldn’t quite break away and he wondered what it was that still kept him tied so firmly to Elfo. 

Surely if it were just the need to corrupt him, he’d at least accomplished enough of that to ensure the elf wasn’t some gleaming beacon. Maybe he could even succeed at going further, if he really pushed, and bring Elfo down to the level of every other poor asshole in this pathetic dingy kingdom. 

But he didn’t want to. Not anymore. He didn’t know what he wanted.

“Look…” Luci grimaced, needing to fill the silence with something. He couldn’t apologize, even if he felt he’d actually done something worth apologizing for, he wouldn’t have, but he didn’t want to leave it like this either. “I’ll…” _What? Just what could he really do?_ There was no going back. As a demon, he knew that. You could maybe fix something you broke but it could never be un-broken. 

_All the king’s horses and all the king’s men_

“I’ll help clean up.” He said, at last, hating the words as they came from his mouth. He hated how close they were to an apology without ever actually being one. He hated that it wasn’t enough, that _he_ wasn’t enough. He was a broken thing too, just a shadow of the demon he had been and even less of what he’d always aspired to be. He couldn’t fix anything.

Elfo’s eyes fell across him and again there was that odd look to them, a brief flicker of something unreadable. The corners of his mouth pulled and his skinny chest hitched for a moment and then he gave Luci a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah.” He slid from the table, landing on his feet amidst the mess of sticky syrup and mashed pancakes on the floor. 

A few minutes later, while Luci was awkwardly sweeping up the broken bits of ceramic, he heard Elfo behind him, so soft that he was barely audible. 

“Thank you.”

Had he imagined it? He didn’t look, just in case he had. But real or not the words were still there, lingering with him. 

_thank you_

It would have been laughable if he hadn’t needed it so much.

-

So, this was how it all ended.

Somehow Luci was both surprised and not. Sure, he would never have said that he’d expected to die tied to a stake with two people he’d sought to use, to twist and manipulate in the manner of demons. Honestly, he hadn’t been expecting to _die_ at all. It wasn’t a demon thing. But at the same time, this felt like a fitting sort of demise for the failure that was his life. Not a blaze of glory, but a blaze of another kind.

His small chest rose and fell in shuddering breaths as his eyes fell across the flames that were creeping closer to their stake. It wouldn’t be long now. He’d never been burned before, his immunity to fire had been among the most obvious demonic powers and he’d not experienced it since his expulsion from hell. He wondered briefly what it would be like, how much it would hurt, how long it would last.

What would happen to him, afterward?

Bean and Elfo would die and probably go to Hell again… at the very least, he knew Bean would, but he’d been unable to get a read on Elfo’s soul since the elf’s death and the waning of his own demon powers. He didn’t glow anymore but it wasn’t necessarily true that he’d go to Hell.

And if he did, Luci wouldn’t be here to greet him. He wouldn’t even be there to greet Bean, despite the lingering bond he had to her soul. 

There was no precedent that he knew of for what would become of a demon expelled from Hell and stripped of his immortality. As far as Luci knew, it had never happened in the entire history of demons. He made a small noise in his throat, a sort-of laugh that got caught up with something vaguely similar - but not really - a sob. Neither sound was able to emerge unscathed and all he managed was a low croak of a breath. 

He was proud of Bean, for a moment. Even if she hadn’t finished her speech, she still managed to stand tall in her last moments. He supposed there were worse ways to go headlong into complete nonexistence than with the two most important people in his life by his side. The biggest disappointment was that he wasn’t going to see them again.

Maybe Bean thought the same thing. Her head tipped up and she let out a breath. “Somehow we ended up in this stupid world together-” And he could tell what she was thinking, whether it was because of their literal bond or because he had just come to know her so well. He didn’t let her finish the words, he took them from her because he understood the need to say something. It was his last chance to be with his mortals, wasn’t it?

There were too many things he had left to do. He’d experienced sadness and now regret too. He really was a failure of a demon.

“-so let’s leave it together.” He finished her sentence smoothly, felt both of their gazes fall across him and he hoped that look they were giving him wasn’t pity. He hadn’t said anything earlier because he’d been worried about being pitied or being treated like something fragile.

Bean’s lips twisted, the distress stark in her gaze as she looked down at him, comprehending but not wanting to. Maybe she’d taken some comfort in the idea that Luci would survive the two of them. Maybe she’d even thought - in a bit of wild fancy - that he might be able to come and save them from Hell again.

_It wouldn’t have been possible anyway, not without a body. Being burned at the stake was a one-way ticket. Souls just couldn’t survive without a corporeal form to attach to..._

Her voice was halting. “Wait… you’re not going to die ever. Unless…You mean...” The pain in her words tore at him in ways he couldn’t have anticipated before meeting these two. He’d changed so much. Worse or better, he could hardly say. He’d had lows and highs unlike anything in Hell and the realization struck him at last, that he was grateful for them. For everything.

_Holy hell, he was going to miss this. If he was even capable of missing anything._

He choked out a forced laugh, barely getting it past his tight throat. He couldn’t look at her; at either of them. “Well I… have a confession to make…” He swallowed, afraid to speak the words. It occurred to him that pity wasn’t what he was worried about now and that he should have been grateful for that small favour. Except now he knew he was going to hurt them, and - as with his earlier realization that he didn’t _want_ to hurt Elfo anymore - the thought of their pain tore at him. Was this what it was like to care? 

_Or, worse, a feeling whispered about, not meant for demons. Compassion._

His paws shook as he clenched his claws against his palms and forced himself to continue. “When I got out of Hell, I was stripped of my immortality. I gave it all up for you losers…” It was too much, in all the ways it wasn’t fair. The only way to deal with it was to try and find something of his old snark. He was about to die, at least he could go out the same way he’d lived. “I’m telling you now, cuz I’d like you to die feeling bad.”

Bean took it wrong, or maybe right. Her voice was soft, her eyes on him and she’d grown up so much somehow. “This may seem like too little, too late, but… thank you.” 

On the other side of him, Elfo finally chimed in, “I’m gonna miss you too, buddy.” And it wasn’t the words he most wanted to hear, but he’d resigned himself to that by now. If he had to go out like this, at least he’d be missed. Maybe they’d remember him while they were being tortured in Hell or wherever Elfo ended up.

It was like Bean read his mind, her head tipped up, so much stronger in her final moments than he’d seen her in much of her life. “See you in Hell, boys!”

_if only_

But her words barely had time to hang in the air before the world around them gave a crack and then it dissolved, the air filled with fire and dirt and rock. It took a few seconds for him to realize it wasn’t an explosion, that the world wasn’t surging up around them in little pieces, but that they were the ones falling.

-

They plunged into the dark, the three of them, together. 

He honestly wasn’t sure if he wouldn’t rather have died, now that they knew. His secret. What he’d given up for them. He wasn’t sure if what he felt was relief or if he was just too tired to care anymore. They landed hard, the embers of the fire sparking and guttering around them as they hit the stone floor. His body jolted, wrists yanked where they were still bound with Elfo’s. Bean’s weight crushed his tail.

The three of them lay there for a few seconds and Luci counted his own shuddering breaths, his limbs twitching in reaction. “What…” He couldn’t complete the thought, his eyes struggling to adjust to the dark. Had the ground simply collapsed? Had it been the heat?

There was a sound, distant and drawing nearer, echoing through the walls of the chamber. It was the high tinkle of a music box. 

Luci grunted, pushing to his feet. The rope around one wrist slid off while the other remained. He could hear Bean getting up behind him and Elfo whining softly. The tug on his other rope was enough to know that Elfo was struggling to find his feet. Luci planted himself firmly and waiting, unmoving, until the elf was up. He could tell when it happened because he could feel the rope going even more lax, finally slipping off of his thin wrist.

By then it wasn’t the rope - or even the attempted burning at the stake that had been only a scant couple of minutes ago - that was worrisome. No, it was the fact that they weren’t alone. The knowledge prickled under his fur, what a human might have called goosebumps. Bean reached down, picked up one of the fallen pieces of wood from their pyre that still had smoldering embers. As she blew on it, the flame caught again, lighting up the room around them.

Yeah. He’d been expecting something dangerous around them, he’d just had that sense, but he honestly hadn’t considered that it would be creepy as fuck. He had no idea what the creatures standing around them were, but they had blank expressions, blanker eyes and there were a lot of them. When they spoke in unison, it only sealed the deal. They were creepy little trogs and even Luci, an ex-demon, wanted to get away from them as soon as possible.

“Greetings, friends.”

God damn. Could it get worse?

The sound of that music box was back again, and he wanted to kick himself for even thinking something like that. It was tempting fate. Fuck him. He had no room left to feel surprised when Dagmar stepped out of the shadows. He could feel Bean jolting beside him, her leg bumping against his shoulder, but for his part, he stood steady. 

Of course, it would be her. Of course. It was just his luck. She was as breezy as if they’d just run into each other while out on a stroll and her casual, “What, no hug?” To Bean made him wish he was just a little taller so he could kick that smug smile in. She wasn’t even looking at him, proving once again that she found him to be beneath her notice. It had infuriated him before and it infuriated him even more now. 

_He’d been used to being treated like garbage and not being valued. It was the way of demons. Now he knew what it was like to feel care from other people and the idea of going back to the way he’d known all his life… Well, he just wouldn’t. Not if he had any say in it._

He probably didn’t, but c’est la vie.

“Come now,” Dagmar smiled, looking somehow unruffled and pristine despite having clearly spent days or weeks hidden in the dank, dirty system of catacombs under the castle. “I went out of my way to help you. The least you could do is thank me.” The fact that she could just come out and say what Luci had been feeling over these past few weeks was a further insult. Sure, she’d maybe kept them from being burned alive - sadly the likelihood of it being coincidence with this timing was minimal - but Luci’d gone to literal Hell to save his mortals and that was far more impressive. At least Bean seemed wary of expressing gratitude to her evil mom for this seeming benevolence and Dagmar certainly wasn’t getting any thanks from Elfo, who had taken a wobbly step forward to stand at Bean’s hip.

Luci couldn’t see the elf’s expression from this angle, but the way he tipped his head showed more backbone than he was used to from Elfo. With a swish of his tail, Luci eased toward them in a show of solidity. If Dagmar was impressed by this display, she gave no indication, simply looking up at the ceiling where they’d fallen through. It was a long drop, enough that the sounds coming down were muffled, but somewhere high above them, Luci could see the slight glow of what was likely torches. 

Would the angry mob try to follow them down here? They might simply assume that the three of them were dead, with the out of sight, out of mind attitude that Dreamland residents tended to have. He was wary to rely on it though, considering how worked up and bloodthirsty they got at even the slightest hint of a public execution.

Maybe Dagmar had the same thought. “We really should be going now. Before they realize where you’ve gone.” She raised her hand to Bean, palm up, in offering. Bean grimaced, holding her torch forward instead, pushing her mother’s outstretched hand to the side with it and starting to walk past her. 

There were numerous tunnels, even with only the dimness of the torchlight around them, the area was a veritable maze, like some kind of rat warren. There were even more at Luci’s eye level, tiny passageways big enough for a demon or an elf… or whatever these strange creepy little trolls were. No human would have fit into numerous small holes dotting the rough stone walls like swiss-cheese. Even with those out of consideration, there were more than enough options.

Dagmar didn’t move to intercept her, nor did she flinch as the flaming torch knocked her hand aside. Her eyes followed Bean impassively, the smile never leaving her lips. “You’ll get lost you know. This place wasn’t meant for you.”

Bean’s voice came out in a growl. “I’d rather be lost than spend any more time with you!” Even Luci could hear the slight tremble behind her bravado. He cast his senses along their bond to try and figure out if she was afraid or just in emotional distress, but her feelings were muddled enough that he couldn’t tell. “Come on, boys.” Bean picked a passageway, seemingly at random, and led the way down it. Elfo pattered after her, his hard-soled elf shoes clacking against the stone floor, the sound echoing around them. Luci paused a moment longer, staring up at Dagmar, trying to read her. What was she up to?

“Well, Luci.” Her smile shifted, beatific as she met his dark eyes. “Are you staying?” The way she asked made his skin crawl. “You always were the smart one, weren’t you?”

He fought to keep his ears from going back and betraying any hint of emotion or uncertainty. “Smart enough to not make a deal with you.” He said, flatly. His paws were silent as he darted after Bean and Elfo.

She didn’t follow, or at least he couldn’t hear her footsteps coming after them. It wasn’t reassuring though and it didn’t make him feel less like they were being hunted. It just reaffirmed the gnawing feeling that she knew something they didn’t.

He hated that.

-

They walked quite a ways in the dark tunnels and nothing was familiar. Between the poor lighting and the twisting nature of the passageways, he couldn’t get any sense of what direction they were actually going in. The lack of outside light also did something to the senses. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Had they been walking for a few minutes? An hour? A day? 

Bean and Elfo were both uncharacteristically silent. Bean’s lips were pursed whenever Luci looked up at her, her knuckles white as she gripped on the torch. Her strength and her anger were both flagging and Luci knew from experience that when they ran out, she would be struggling to keep going. Elfo was fretting, silently, and the more he darted glances up at Bean, the more obvious it became that he wanted to say something. Luci could almost sympathize The silence was eating them alive.

“So. Not going back to the palace this time, huh?” It was the wrong thing to say but if no one else was going to talk then he would. 

Bean stopped. It happened so quickly that Elfo ran into her from behind and then fell flat on his ass. Luci was more agile and jumped aside to make a circle around to stand in front of her. He could see the slight tremble to her lips as she drew a breath. “I-” She gave an uncertain attempt at a laugh. “No. I guess not…” She shifted, took a step, then leaned her shoulder against the unforgiving rock wall, the torch in her hand dipping as her head drooped. “I don’t know where to go.” She didn’t just mean the catacombs. Her whole life had been uprooted by all this, all that she’d managed to get back after Dagmar’s betrayal was gone again. 

Luci knew that feeling. He had no idea where he was going with his life anymore either.

“It’s okay, Bean.” Elfo was trying to reassure but he was doing a shit job at it, probably because he was just as worried about everything as she was. Luci would normally have waited for him to fuck things up by trying to come up with some positive about the situation, but he didn’t have the patience for it and it wasn’t going to bring any amusement either. He’d gone well past the point where pushing Elfo into stupid situations where he’d suffer was the height of amusement for him.

Besides, it wouldn’t help Bean or any of them, so he might as well make himself marginally more useful. “Look, it’s a shitty situation. We all know it.” He looked from Bean to Elfo. The princess - former princess now? - didn’t try to pull her gaze away, just staring wearily, while Elfo dropped his eyes and let out a small, pained noise. Good enough. “We’re just gonna have to make due. I mean, c’mon. We’re always in shitty situations. Life hates us. We’re losers-” he let out an aborted laugh, “Yeah, even me-” it was a little easier to admit it now that they already knew what he’d given up for them. “But we never let that stop us before.”

“Is this supposed to be a motivational speech?” Bean asked as he fell silent for a second. When he didn’t respond right away, she added, “No offense, but it kind of sucks.”

He should have been insulted. Would have been, if he’d had the energy and if Bean hadn’t given a slight smile that was probably amusement at his expense. So he wasn’t a speechmaker. He didn’t have to be. “Hmm… yeah, okay. So tell me then, _Madame Ambassador_. How did your last speech turn out?”

Her lips twitched and she let out a snort. “Yeah. I guess none of us are that great at motivation. It’s a good thing we’re not planning to lead any armies soon.” _Or kingdoms, now._ Bean sighed. “But that still doesn’t tell us what to do. My mom is awful, but I think she might be right. This whole place just feels… wrong somehow. I can’t put my finger on it…”

Luci saw Elfo shuffling out of the corner of his eye, the elf seemingly oblivious to the conversation his two companions were having as he looked at something on the wall. His hand rose to trace over the faded markings on the stone before drawing back. It was frankly, weird and Luci scowled a little. “Yo, Elfo? What are you doing? The conversation is over here.”

Luci's outburst caught Bean's attention. She hadn't even been looking at Elfo all this time but as soon as it came up, she glanced at Elfo, eyes widening for a moment in alarm and concern. It was a look of worry and affection that he would have dismissed once, mostly because he couldn't - and didn't - concern himself with the troubles of mortals. Also because the way she looked at Elfo did something to him. She didn't like the elf like that though, he reminded himself. Bean was shitty at being a good friend, but at least she tried. Sometimes. 

"Elfo? Hey..." She let herself slide down the wall until she was sitting, stretching out one leg to brush the toes of her boot against his ankle. "Is something wrong?"

The elf's voice was odd, a little distant as he croaked out an answer after an unusually long pause. "There's something weird here..." He swallowed, not looking in their direction as he moved toward the nearby wall, his fingers brushing across it, carefully, like he was looking for something. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to actually be there. "I don't understand..." He swallowed, slowly. "It all feels... familiar... somehow." His fingers swept across the stone wall again, then paused abruptly in a flinch.

"Elfo?" Bean's voice pitched higher on his name.

Even Luci was weirded out a little by both the silence and the strange semi-glazed look on Elfo's face. "Yo. Elfo. You okay over there?"

"There's writing here." Elfo's fingers brushed in slow sweeps, tracing the area. Luci couldn't see anything, but admittedly it was as dark in here as the lump of coal that Dagmar had in place of a heart. Elfo looked up the wall before glancing further along it, moving a few steps down with his fingers still tracing the seemingly blank stone.

“Where are you going?” Luci asked, using a deliberate sheen of calm to hide the fact that this behaviour was starting to verge on creepy.

At the question, Elfo paused. Luci couldn’t read his expression, not when Elfo had his back to the two of them, but he could see the brief tensing of his muscles, the way his steps faltered before he came to a halt. He turned his head and Luci could just see the pull of his lips in a frown before he blinked. Then he gave his head a little shake and turned back to them and it was just Elfo, like normal. “I-” He glanced at the wall again, pulling his hand away. “Nowhere, I guess.” His voice dropped to a mumble. “It just seemed familiar for a moment.”

“Well, it’s not.” Luci snapped. He was overreacting over such a small thing, he knew it, but Elfo was freaking him out. He was the one who was supposed to creep people out or do things that got them off-guard, not Elfo! As much as he’d lost his touch along with his powers, there was no way he could accept being outdone by _Elfo_ of all people. “You’ve never even been down here!”

Elfo nodded at that, not as upset or ruffled as Luci expected him to be. “No.” He paused, tongue flicking across his lips as his eyes narrowed. “But there was something similar to this place, I saw it before…” He trailed off and shook his head. “I guess it doesn’t matter…”

As much as he was ready to have Elfo shut up, it sank in with Luci that Elfo was talking about something that might actually be relevant to their situation. Damn. That put him in the position of trying to make Elfo talk about his life. “What doesn’t matter?” He barked. “Just tell us, god damn it.”

“It was when I was going through the castle with Derek-” And what? He was on first-name terms with the squirt, now? Luci _knew_ he should have been screwing the two of them over instead of forcing warm hog fat down Zog’s gullet! “-we found something. Jars.” His brows furrowed. “He called them something. I forget what.”

Luci scoffed. “It’s not important. Anything His Royal Brattiness has to say isn’t useful here.”

Elfo’s yellow eyes were on him, expression hesitant. “Luci. That’s not very nice. Derek’s a good kid… he’s just… a dork with no people skills.”

“He tried to have us murdered.” Luci countered, flatly.

“Ease off.” Bean’s hand reached down and she lifted Luci by the back of his neck, forcing him to kick and growl futilely as she held him up. “It’s not his fault. It’s Odval and his stupid schemes. He’s probably the one who tried to have my dad murdered.” She released her grip without warning and Luci barely landed on his feet. “He knew more than he was letting on about that stience gun. Ugh!” She kicked at the wall, then hissed. “What is he even up to? If he wanted to kill my dad, he could have done it ages ago! So why?! It doesn’t make any sense!”

Her words were cut off by a wheezing gasp and both she and Luci turned to Elfo again. The elf had his hands pressed against his mouth like he was afraid of blurting something out. With their eyes on him, he let out a high whine and then dropped his arms to his sides. “No. It makes perfect sense. It’s all in the laws written up in the Dreamland charter!” When they both continued to stare at him, he let out a put-upon sigh. “While some people were writing, I was reading. And there’s not a lot to read in Dreamland. Have you people never heard of libraries?”

“If by library, you mean my mom’s secret evil potion room, then yes.” Bean crossed her arms, her matter-of-fact mention of her mother cutting short any rant about illiteracy in Dreamland that Elfo might have been tempted to launch into. “What does that have to do with Odval?”

“If your father… passed away… before Derek was old enough to be king, they’d have to appoint a regent.” He clarified immediately, “Someone else to rule the kingdom until he can be king. But that’s normally the prince’s mother.”

“Oona.” Luci knew there was a lot loaded in that word, Bean’s relationship with her ex-stepmother was complicated. “But she’s not even queen anymore. She and my dad got divorced. Also, she’s somewhere at sea kicking asses and being all sexy or something.”

“Then Derek’s legal guardian would become regent.” Elfo reached the end of his lecture with a fervent wave of his hand. 

“Odval.” Bean growled the name. It was a guess but probably an accurate one. “I’m sure if we don’t do something, he’ll try again. I’m not going to let that happen. I saved my dad once. I can do it again.”

Luci normally loved being the bearer of bad news, but now that he wasn’t getting Evil Points for it, it was more of a bummer. “Fat chance while we’re trapped down here. Even if we can get out, everyone in the kingdom is going to be looking for us, probably with pitchforks in tow.”

“We have to get out of here. Once we’re outside, we can work on a better plan.” Bean started walking up the corridor again, almost tripping over Luci’s smaller form in her resolution to go somewhere, anywhere. “There’s gotta be some way-”

“Oh, there is a way, my dear.” Bean froze at the sound of Dagmar’s voice echoing in the darkness ahead of them. Luci, and then Elfo, ran into her from behind. Luci could feel the tightening of Bean’s leg muscles under his paws as he caught hold of her to steady himself. Across their bond, her alarm was palpable, fluttering against Luci like a trapped moth. 

“H-how did you…” 

Torchlight illuminated Dagmar’s features, the dimness around them swallowing most of her body up and making her look ghostly, some kind of phantasm here to haunt Bean. Her white hair stirred, even without the presence of any wind.

She exuded danger.

Instinct was kicking in and telling Luci to run, and he almost gave in to it for a second but when he turned, Elfo was behind him and his stumbling step just sent him careening against the elf. They both hit the ground hard, tangled up together.

“How did I what? You really do need to learn to finish your sentences, Bean.” Dagmar smiled. “How did I get ahead of you? It was simple really. Most things are, when you know how to deal with them.” She gestured around herself at the tunnels, “There are so many things you don’t know, Bean. About yourself… about this place. I, on the other hand, have answers. All the answers you could want.” 

“I don’t need your answers.” Bean’s voice was flat. 

Dagmar wasn’t taken aback by Bean’s dismissal, if anything, she seemed smug. “Oh, but you do, sweetheart. You’ve come far beyond what these simpletons you’ve been dealing with can comprehend. This place - all of Dreamland - is more than what such limited minds can perceive. Even you, darling. Unless you know the secret of this place, you’ll be lost down here forever. There’s no accidental way out.”

“If Dreamlanders built it, it can’t be that complicated.” It was a simple statement of fact. Luci knew that Bean still cared about her kingdom, as stupid and bigoted as it was, but she had a point. 

“You presume it was built by them.” Something about the way Dagmar said the words made Luci’s fur stand on end. He was sure it had a similar reaction from Bean, from the way she stood up straight. “This place is a labyrinth of tunnels, built to keep its heart safe. Without the knowledge of where to go, you’ll never reach the surface. You’ll never see the light of day again.” She smiled, tight but feline. “Surely you don’t find my company as repugnant as the idea of dying down here?”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” Luci drawled, his ears at a slight tilt. It was true, now that he’d come so close to dying, he wasn’t as blase about it as he might have been right after getting stripped of his powers. Life hadn’t meant as much to him, especially considering that all of his life up until that point had been in a state of immortality. Why should an immortal creature worry about death? Now he was lowkey aware of it all the time. He remembered the heat of the first on his fur, so close, and no matter how crappy the hand he’d been dealt, he wasn’t ready to lie down and die just yet. Especially not when they’d just been through so much shit at the hands of Zog’s advisor and soldiers and the entire mob.

Call him petty, but Luci was looking to get some revenge. Even if it was only the satisfaction of living and screwing up their plans to kill him. Spite was a great motivator. Every demon worth their salt knew that.

It didn’t mean that Bean felt the same way though. He glanced at her, wondering if she would have preferred just dying on the stake to having to deal with the bullshit that came with her evil mom trying to use her in some weird-ass plan to conquer the world or something. It was hard to read her expression, her face was uncharacteristically stoic, but he could feel something along their bond that spoke of determination. He just couldn’t identify what it was that she was feeling so deeply about… what was giving her this new core of strength.

“I don’t plan to die down here,” Bean said. Firm. Luci could have applauded her for not even bothering to address Dagmar’s attempt at gaslighting her. She wasn’t going to rise to that bait. Bean was silent for a few seconds longer, but when she spoke again, her voice was steady. “Okay. We’ll go with you. But we’re not making any deals. We’re not promising to help you. If you so much as think of trying to doublecross us, then we’re done. Understand?”

Dagmar smiled, not nearly as impressed by her daughter’s resolve as she should have been. “Well, of course, my darling. We really are both on the same side, you know?” Her response was gracious and Bean didn’t reply to that either, leaving Dagmar’s question hanging until the former queen of Dreamland gave her shoulders a slight shrug. “Then come along. You and your… friends.” The way she halted on that word, her gaze raking across Luci and Elfo, knife-sharp, made Luci bristle a little. He wasn’t sure what she was up to but he didn’t like it.

Dagmar becked for them with one hand as she began to move back in the direction she’d come. She gave no indication of having a map or any other form of guidance, just blithely selecting a corridor, seemingly at random. 

Once she was slightly away and out of earshot, Elfo leaned up, grabbing at the sleeve of Bean’s shirt and tugging at it with sharp, jerky motions. “Bean!” He hissed - in what was, for him, undoubtedly a whisper - “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No.” Bean said, flatly, much of her earlier steel gone. “But I’m not sure we have any other choice. We need to get out of here and save my family.” She sighed, pushing away from the wall. Elfo's eyes followed her, brows furrowed. His mouth opened but no words came out. At least he shook his head for a second, then nodded.

"I.. I guess not. If that's what you want, it's what we'll do." Luci was only a little surprised that he didn't put up more of a fight but maybe Elfo was just as worn out over this all as Bean. Luci knew he was getting tired of it, himself. Again and again, they were put in these situations where they couldn't win and it pissed him off. They needed to find some way to change the game and come out on top. 

"Yeah. Sure." Luci said, flat and noncommittal. Though his words were halting and simple, his mind was still racing, chasing after thoughts he couldn't catch. There were too many uncertainties in his life. This was just one more. He glanced over at Elfo, who still wasn't even looking at him. It was just as well... there was too much going on for him to spare what little mental and emotional energy he had left worrying about Elfo.

Well... thinking about Elfo at least. It wasn't like he was actually worrying.

Bean started to walk, following Dagmar with her torch in hand. Luci waited a few seconds longer, hanging back as Elfo followed in Bean's wake. A slight tingle ran up Luci's spine as he felt a presence behind him and he snapped his head around to look over his shoulder. A pair of gleaming eyes looked back at him from the dark. More of them, dotting the dark around them. He hissed, his fur bristling, then darted after his companions.

The sooner they got out of these creepy tunnels, the better.

-

  
Dagmar was omnipresent. 

Not even just in the fact that she was always there, somehow managing to give the trio little space to themselves or time to think, but she was always there in spirit as well. Not in the feel-good way that people usually talked about when they referred to someone as being there “in spirit”. No, she was the threat looming over their heads and when she was gone, she was the subject of their discussions… or even their silence.

“Are we sure we’re making progress?” Elfo asked, in a pause where Dagmar was not physically in the area with them but was probably lurking around some corner waiting to appear and freak them all out. “I can’t tell if we’re going in circles. I mean… I couldn’t tell before, but at least then I _knew_ we were going in circles.” 

“You know as much as we do.” Luci snapped, darting a glance over his shoulder to where Dagmar had disappeared. 

Bean nodded slowly, her gaze distant. “She’s up to something.” She said it as if it was somehow a new bit of information or some kind of surprise. It was obvious that Dagmar was up to something… the question was… what? “I’m not sure how we can find out what.”

“We don’t have enough information.” That tidbit of advice came from Elfo, which was surprising enough by itself. The rest was even more so. “We need to gather more… find out what she’s looking for. Why does she want Bean? What is she after?” When the two of them looked at him, surprised at this reasonable set of things they should be looking into, he ducked his head into his shirt a little, his voice defensive. “While you were writing stuff, I was reading books. I told you.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, looking away. “Some of them were detective stories.”

So, they were going to go into this with a plan that Elfo had gotten from some kind of detective novel. That sounded like a brilliant move. Sarcasm intended. But Luci didn’t have a better plan and he knew Bean certainly didn’t. “I guess that’s what we’ll have to go with… we need to pump her for info.”

“I’m not sure it’ll be that easy. The villains always lie about their motives in the stories…”

“I might be able to get her to talk.” Bean said, her voice low with frustration. “I don’t think she actually views any of us as a threat. I don’t think I’m anything to her but a tool…” An accurate, if bleak assessment of the situation if Luci had ever heard one. Neither of them piped up to argue the fact.

“I didn’t think I’d say this... But I think we’ll need to try and get close to your mom, Bean…” Elfo was more hesitant, but this was his stupid plan. They needed to get close to Dagmar, grill her. Try to figure out what she was up to...

“Speak of the devil…” Luci grumbled, and then, when Elfo threw him a quizzical glance, he added in a low hiss, “Not me!” 

If Dagmar heard him - and it seemed likely - she wasn’t affording him any of her attention. She only had eyes for Bean. Smoothing down the front of her dress, she swept forward. Somehow she moved in a way that her heels never made a sound. “There you are, darling.” She paused, close enough to touch. “You’re still so distrustful… you know it pains me how far apart we’ve grown.”

“Yeah, that kinda happens when you try to murder someone.” Luci couldn’t resist piping up, his tone biting. Dagmar cast him a sharp glance, just a momentary break in her cool facade. She concealed it quickly. 

“Why don’t we step out for a moment, just the two of us. Have a mother and daughter talk?” She reached out her hand, letting it rest against Bean’s arm. Luci felt the flinch from where he was sitting. More importantly, Bean’s nervousness and stress came through across their shared bond, battering at his senses. He had to clench his paws to keep himself steady. If Bean wasn’t going to betray her feelings to her evil mom, he had to do his best to not do so either. Not that he was sure Dagmar even understood how demon bonds worked, but one could never be too cautious.

“Yeah. I don’t think so…” Bean hedged, but Dagmar only smiled in the face of her daughter’s attempt to refuse her.

“It would speed things up, darling.” She said, her nails digging slightly into Bean’s skin. Luci heard Elfo’s gasp from slightly to one side but didn’t spare the elf his attention because he was fighting too hard to not fucking growl and leap up at Dagmar like an angry cat. It wouldn’t have done anything if he had, especially without his demonic powers, but it would have at least succeeded in letting him express some of his intense frustration.

_Even if a large part of said frustration didn’t have anything to do with Dagmar, it was true that she had enough of a hand in his current state that he would have enjoyed getting to revenge himself upon her… even just in some small way._

“Besides-” Dagmar continued, her gaze finally falling across Bean’s companions, “We should talk away from prying ears.”

Bean stepped back, Dagmar’s nails scratching along her upper arm as she tore away with a sharp jerk. She didn’t even seem to notice the pain. “You know… that makes me want to go with you even less. I’m not going to just _leave_ my friends.” She let out an incredulous laugh. “Why would I ever do that?”

“Because, Bean.” Dagmar looked at her, eyes narrowed just a fraction. “It’s the best way to ensure their safety.” Her matter-of-fact tone made the fur on Luci’s spine prick and stand slightly on end. He wasn’t a fool enough to not realize the implication of her words. A sidelong glance at Elfo didn’t give him any indication that the elf understood what was going on, but he knew instinctively that Bean did.

It was only further confirmed when Bean’s voice came out, low and tight. “Are you threatening my friends?”

“Oh, I’m not.” Dagmar straightened up, chin tipped up proudly. “I don’t have to. But when I do threaten them, I promise you’ll know. This is just a matter of a certain… nature. Knowledge is power, sweetheart… but it’s also dangerous. They’ll be safer here.”

The princess’ eyes flicked over her two companions. Luci knew his ears were back and his body was noticeably tense. Elfo had his hands clasped in front of him, looking up at Bean like he was in the midst of a prayer, but he said nothing. The gears were turning in Bean’s head and he felt her resolve waver, even before he saw the dropping of her eyes, the tiny slump in her shoulders.

“Fine.” She said, raising her head again to meet Dagmar’s eyes with a steady gaze. Luci could have applauded her for the sheer amount of steel it took to look Dagmar right in the eye like that. Unbroken. Unintimidated. 

_Bean would have made a great king._ The thought stuck with him, even as it amazed him a little.

_What a shame. What a god damn shame._

“I’ll go with you.” Bean was saying and the words registered with Luci, distantly. “But if you try anything, I won’t hesitate to defend myself.” She drew a slow breath. “And if you do anything… _anything_ to my friends-” She didn’t finish the sentence, but the threat in it was a match for anything Dagmar had shown thus far.

“Of course, dear.” There was enough pause before her words that Luci wondered if Bean had finally managed to get past her defenses and put a lick of fear into her. If it was there, it was gone in the few seconds it took for Dagmar to smooth down her sleeves. “Now, come along. I know you don’t want to delay your… return.”

Weird phrasing. Weird pause. A lot to unpack and Luci didn’t have the capacity for it just yet.

He felt a pang in him as Bean nodded silently before turning back to them. “Stay out of trouble, boys.” Those words were loud, but as she dropped to one knee, a hand on each of their shoulders, her voice was softer. Just for them. “Take care of each other for me. Until I get back.”

Elfo’s hand brushed her arm, then moved to settle on Luci’s shoulder. Luci swallowed and dipped his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep Elfo on a leash while you’re gone.” His tail flicked out, coiling around the elf’s middle in demonstration. Despite the nervousness he knew she was feeling, Bean smiled a little in response to his quip.

“Okay.” She said, then pushed to her feet, looking over her shoulder at her mother. She looked tall and regal, and more importantly, determined. “Let’s get this over with, _Mother_.”

As the two of them strode away, Luci strained to watch. Even his better-than-human vision didn’t serve him for long, as Bean was finally out of range of his sight. Then, shortly after, out of range of his keen ears.

It was just the two of them now.

Alone.

-  


A while passed… a very long while… and Bean still hadn’t returned. Luci couldn’t be sure how long it actually was because the complete lack of any daylight was enough to confound his senses. 

_And when had that happened? When had he gotten so accustomed to the mortal way of existing with a dependence on day and night cycles? Damn circadian rhythm._

Elfo’s pacing grew frantic as the seconds ticked away. Luci sat with his back braced against the wall, wishing he’d thought to bring weed to the courtroom with him during the trial, in the off chance he might have gotten to keep it afterward. He could go for a hit right now. Being alone with Elfo was making him a bit jittery, his fur couldn’t help but stand a little on edge when he was trapped here with just the elf and his own feelings. One of those things on its own would have been bad enough… both together though…

And besides, Elfo would just _not_ shut up. In-between the annoying clicking of his shoes on the rocks, he was mumbling to himself. It was mostly just small worried noises but occasionally there were actual words. Luci almost told him to knock it off, but that would have required _saying something_ to Elfo and it was too much right now.

He wasn’t sure how much more time passed, but the sound of Elfo’s footsteps stopped. Luci blinked slowly, looking up at the now-still elf with a bleary stare. “What is it now?” He snapped, finally. Damn, he’d just been on the verge of zoning out, too.

“It’s been too long.” Elfo turned, looking at Luci plaintively. “It’s been too long, hasn’t it? What if Bean’s in danger?”

“Well doy,” Luci grumbled, his tail flicking out. The very tip of it smacked across Elfo’s shoe but he didn’t have the leverage or reach to do any real damage. The confused expression cast in his direction was something he could address, at least. “Of course she’s in danger, dumbass. Her mom is an evil sorceress who wants to screw a metal crown into her skull.”

“You think it’s for nefarious purposes?”

What kind of question was that? “Fuck yeah it’s for nefarious purposes. Under what possible circumstances could screwing a crown into someone’s head be anything other than part of some evil plan?”

Elfo was silent for a few seconds, lips pursed. He was honestly thinking about it, the idiot. His voice emerged, soft and hesitant. “Maybe it’d keep it from falling off?”

Okay. That did it. Luci pushed himself a few inches over, a slow, deliberate crawl that Elfo just watched happening without comment. As soon as Luci was close enough, he whapped Elfo across the face with the flexible lashing length of his tail.

“Ow!” Elfo winced, rubbing at his cheek where Luci had left a red mark. The actual pain didn’t really sink in though because Elfo was either too used to being knocked around or he was too concerned over Bean’s safety to notice something so trivial. “If she’s in danger, we have to save her! We have to go after her!” He reached down, catching hold of Luci by the shoulders and giving him a slight shake. “We can’t just stay here like this!”

He was on the verge of actually trying to march off into the tunnels with no idea where to go or what to do, when Luci snagged hold of him by the wrist, claws digging into his skin to catch his attention. “Staying here is all we can do!”

Elfo whipped his head around to look down at Luci, the darkness of their surroundings somehow making his stupid bright clothes and the yellow of his eyes stand out more prominently. He just looked… bright… compared to the rest of their surroundings.

_not like he had once. That was a wistful thought_

“We have to go, Luci! Bean needs us!”

_Dumb, dumb, stupid fool!_

Luci’s frayed temper snapped. “And just what good would you be able to do anyway, huh? You’re basically useless in a fight! What are you going to do? Throw daisy chains and whine at Dagmar? She’d wipe the floor with you.”

There was some steel to Elfo’s gaze, something Luci hadn’t anticipated. He expected Elfo to crumble with this reminder of his helplessness, but it only seemed to spur the elf on. “I can do this. I’m not… I’m not as weak as you think I am.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Luci scoffed. “Your legs are shaking.”

Elfo let out what Luci recognized as an elf-growl. His fists were clenched, his voice rose higher and clipped with frustration. “You can’t just expect me to do nothing!”

“Yeah. That is what I expect.” Luci met his anger, head-on. “Because if you go after Dagmar and screw things up, you’re going to wind up dead.” Elfo let out a small sound at that, a strangled choke, and Luci hammered the point home, merciless. “You want to get yourself killed? Is that it?” Then, slyly, “Do you think that’s what Bean would want?”

“No!” Elfo threw his hands up. “That’s not going to happen!”

_Reverse psychology time, perhaps?_

“And what if you’re wrong? Think about that. I can’t just go storming Hell to save your sorry soul whenever you decide to try being a hero! That was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my life! I gave up everything! I can’t do that again!”

“But you didn’t have to do it the last time either!” The words escaped Elfo’s mouth so quickly that he must not even have had time to think about them. His eyes got wide, a look of panic that flared across his face, even as his hands rose up to cover his mouth. But it was a broken dam, and the words spewed out of him then, heedless of his clear desire to stop himself. “I didn’t ask you to! It wasn’t… I didn’t…” 

Luci felt slapped at that. Or maybe more like a sucker punch straight to the gut. His paws clenched so tight that his claws dug into his skin. “What? You didn’t _want_ to come back?” He was angry, but his anger was soft and tight and cold. 

Elfo whined, a reedy little noise. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then let out a breath. Luci knew that reaction, the attempt to steel one’s self to give bad news. So, of course, he already knew what Elfo was going to say, but somehow when the words came out, it didn’t make any difference how prepared he was for it. “I don’t… I’m not sure…” Eyes open but darting away from Luci, not meeting his gaze. “I didn’t think it would be like this.”

No shit. Luci hadn’t either. He didn’t say anything in response, he couldn’t. He was too close to breaking with this on top of everything else. The knowledge that not only did Elfo not love him - bad enough but inevitable - and didn’t appreciate him - because he was a stupid mortal fleshbag who obviously didn’t know better - but that he was so keen to throw away Luci’s sacrifice… throw it back in his face, even… that burned in him.

It took a moment, Elfo cringing a little the entire time and darting small glances at Luci, before Luci had himself together enough to not break down in front of the damn elf like a sentimental mortal. “Are you done?” He asked, his voice still cool. He was impressed a bit by how little he was giving away. When the elf’s head bobbed in a single nod, Luci’s tail curled, long and sinuous behind him as he took a step forward. Just one. It got a slight flinch anyway.

“So…” Luci forced his ears to stay up and perked, his eyes to stay on Elfo as he spoke. “You’re saying that I went all the way to Hell, risked my life, gave up my immortality and my powers to get you back… I did all that… and you don’t even _want_ to be here?” He would have said more, launched into some tirade about all he’d done for Elfo. He could have gaslit the elf to Hell and back over this. Even after dying and coming back to life, Elfo was painfully naive enough that he would have fallen for it… but he never got the chance because it was Elfo who broke first.

“Why would you do that?” There was a note of panic in Elfo’s voice and Luci couldn’t tell if it was because of the guilt trip he was laying down thick or because Elfo was freaking himself out with the emotions he’d been apparently trying - and succeeding? Kind of? - to hide from the two of them. “Why would you give that up? Why does what happens to me even matter? You even said we’re not friends…” He turned his head away, flinching. “And you’ve done nothing but be mean me ever since we got back…”

Luci knew he was listing it all off in his head. The party, being roommates, the times at the bar. All the things he’d tried in an effort to get closer to Elfo that had come back to bite him on the ass and make things worse. Shit, yeah. It did come across like he’d been harassing Elfo all this time.

“Is that what you brought me back for?” The words were a whisper. A real one, not one of Elfo’s failed attempts at subterfuge. 

“Fuck.” The word slipped out before he could catch it. “No. Okay. That’s not it, god damn it.” Elfo really had that low of an opinion of him, huh? Wasn’t that a kick in the nonexistent balls? “I mean, yeah, I brought you back and it sure as hell wasn’t for Bean’s sake.” No use denying that. “But it’s because I fucking needed you, okay!” He spat the words, forcing them out with anger rather than concern. Luci threw them in Elfo’s face as both accusation and a pre-emptive strike.

They hit home, far more accurately than he’d expected. A green hand lashed out, caught him across the cheek and he was so busy reveling in his anger and the power afforded by tearing someone else down that he didn’t even see it coming. Luci hit the floor, ass first, and stared up at the elf in dumb surprise. As he got unsteadily to his feet, he couldn’t even manage to spark some of the anger that had just been burning hot through him. It wasn't like he didn't deserve it.

He'd seen Elfo cry. He'd seen Elfo angry. But he'd never seen this. The elf's small green body was shaking so hard that it seemed like he was about to fall apart at the seams. There were tears at the corners of his eyes, but what Luci really noticed - really _saw_ \- for the first time was that feral look in his eyes. Raw animal panic and anger.

And pain.

It was funny that he'd thought dying was the worst thing that could happen to Elfo. All the time in Dreamland where the elf had been a prisoner, where he'd been subjected to all manner of torture under the guise of research. All the danger he'd been put in, the near-death encounters, the terrifying adventures... they'd never broken him.

But Luci had.

_Oh Luci. You were so cruel to him, when you thought you were being kind_ The mocking voice in his head sounded suspiciously like Dagmar. _You can't help it, can you? It's just what you are._

Luci's fingers clenched, claws digging into his palms. The brief pain should have distracted him, but all it did was hone his focus down to the realization he'd been trying hard to avoid for a while.

He'd been telling himself that he'd done this for Elfo. To help Elfo. That Elfo should be grateful to him for it. He'd brought him back to life, god damn it.

_But you didn't do it for him._ The Dagmar voice teased in the back of his mind and Luci gritted his teeth until it felt his jaw would crack. He watched Elfo curl in on himself on the packed dirt floor and he forced himself not to look away. He'd done this.

_You did it for yourself._

Yes. Yes, he had.

"This is what I am, okay!" The words escaped his mouth, cutting through the air, and they both froze with the weight of them. Elfo's eyes rose to meet his, his breath caught in his throat, and Luci couldn't stop. He didn't want to. It all spewed out of him then, everything he'd been holding back since their return from hell, burning his throat like bile.

"Yeah! It was for me." His fur stood on end, his tail lashing behind him like a cat's. "It was all for me! You just had to up and die on us! You're so god damn -" _mortal_ "-selfish!" All of his anger, all his frustration, it all came rushing back to him now, just as strong as it had been those six months ago... that dusky afternoon when Elfo had let out a breath and never drawn another.

Luci had never felt that before. He hadn't been able to even identify it at first. The empty feeling inside that didn't go away.

_Sadness. This is what sadness feels like..._

He'd never thought about missing Elfo, not even in the days following. He didn't think... he just _did_. Elfo's absence had been so tangible, he'd had trouble thinking of anything else. He knew it was a risk he was taking, but when he'd heard Elfo's voice through the fire, he'd been reminded of that ache anew. What else could he have done?

He knew this was a clear-cut case of the pot calling the kettle black, but he honestly didn't care anymore. He _couldn't_. He was bristling with anger and it felt clean running through him. Like fire, it cauterized, burning away the rest of his feelings. Maybe Elfo hadn't meant to die - _obviously, he hadn't **meant** to die_ \- but he'd gone and done it anyway and it had left Luci in the lurch in the worst possible way.

He knew Elfo hadn't meant to become so vital to him in their short time together, but somehow he'd done that too...

Elfo wasn't replying to his venom, wasn't responding to him with anything but that same look in his eyes that Luci had seen briefly back during their escape from the island. Luci'd held back before to avoid rocking the boat - both literally and figuratively - but he couldn't hold back anymore. He cleared the distance between them, claws digging into the green skin on Elfo's arms like he could keep him from running. But Elfo wasn't running.

"I'm not letting you go, you moron! You don't get to go to heaven and just leave us!" Bad enough that Elfo had died but he also just had to be an asshole who couldn't even go to hell like an (in)decent person. "That's not part of the plan!" Luci had been grateful that Elfo's stupid infatuation and loyalty to Bean had gotten the elf to come to hell to meet them because trying to find some way to actually storm heaven would have been a losing battle.

_He'd have done it, though. He'd have found some way. Fuck the system._

There was a reaction then, finally, just the slightest twitch at the corner of Elfo's mouth and then the smallest breath of a sound. Elfo's gaze was on him, steady and emotionless in a way that made Luci hurt somehow. His voice, when it emerged, was ominously flat. "You don't have to worry about that. Not anymore."

Luci recoiled slightly, uncertainty welling up in him. Elfo had been angry at him in the past, over petty things sometimes, even. But this didn't feel like anger... not precisely. "What?" Luci didn't get it. Was this some kind of passive-aggressive attempt to get to him? To make him feel bad? Not that he would have blamed Elfo, if so, but he wanted to know what he was dealing with here.

Elfo blinked slowly, his expression unwavering. His voice came out, oddly serene, and the tone of it sent strange shivers down Luci's spine. "I'm not going to heaven anymore," Elfo said. His expression was frighteningly neutral. "It's a one-time thing, I guess... There's no going back. Not ever." The finality of his words was too-familiar.

The surge of feelings that hit Luci was so overwhelming but so muddled that he wasn't even sure how to sort them out for a second. It wasn't entirely unexpected, considering his own expulsion from hell and the subsequent loss of his powers and immortality, but it still surprised him. He tried to _look_ at Elfo, like really look at him in the way that only demons and celestial creatures could.

Funny... he hadn't noticed anything different... he'd somehow assumed that Elfo was just Elfo and somehow he'd gotten used to that stupid brightness of his soul, so much that he didn't even notice it anymore.

But when he looked... _really_ looked... he saw... 

Nothing.

It made his gut twist, a frisson of emotions shivering through him. Excitement. Fear. Both.

"Good." The word left his mouth and he meant it with every dark little corner of whatever demons had in place of a soul. And he hated it for being the truth because some small part of him that might have been a conscience was reminding him how fucking selfish he was. He'd never denied it though. He wouldn't start now.

And if it meant living with this small core of self-hate and the realization that he was a monster, at least it meant living in a world where Elfo was _alive_.

As soon as Luci spoke, he saw Elfo's small green body stiffen. Maybe the elf had been expecting something else... maybe an apology. Luci had, after all, kind of screwed them both over with his impromptu rescue. They were both basically damned now, even if Luci had no idea what that would eventually entail for him, as an expelled demon.

But even still, he wasn't going to apologize. It was worth it. It _had_ to be.

"It's not what I wanted." Elfo's voice still wasn't angry, it was just weary. He turned away from Luci as though he couldn't even bear to look at him anymore.

"What? You wanted Heaven?" Luci didn't really want to know but the words slipped out anyway, hard-edged. 

Elfo's head ducked, trying with middling success to retreat into his own shirt. "Yes?" He made a sound, a pained whine. "Maybe! ...I don't know..." A long pause and then a sigh, "It doesn't matter..." His gaze slid over Luci's diminutive form without ever really seeing him. "This is what I've got..."

How five words could so utterly portray defeat, Luci would never know, but Elfo was moving away from him now, and in more ways than just physically. "I... I'm gonna go check on Bean..."

As he moved away, Luci could only repeat the mantra in his own head.

He didn't regret it. He didn't. The alternative had been untenable.

But for just a moment, he almost wished he could...

-

  
Bean hadn’t gotten herself murdered by her mother. It didn’t take all that long for them to return, honestly, and when they did, Bean was bristling. She blew off the concerns about her safety to drag the two of them to one side. “She’s acting nice,” Bean cast a gaze over her shoulder, her voice dropping a little. “I don’t know what she thinks she’s up to.”

“Maybe she’s trying to win you over?” Elfo offered. He was the only one who only knew of Dagmar through the other two, so Luci didn’t immediately jump to calling him a moron. 

“Of course she is. But it’s not going to work, right Bean?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Bean let out a breath. “I think she might be delaying to buy herself time to… to…”. Her words trailed off and Luci finished her thought for her.

“Time to get to you.”

Bean nodded, her shoulders slumping a little. “I don’t know what we can do or what she’ll try… but we need to be on our guard.” Luci tipped his head in agreement while Elfo nodded vigorously. “We can do this, boys.”

_We have to._ The rest of the words were unspoken, but they lingered anyway, a constant reminder of how tenuous this all was. As if Luci needed more things shoved into his face in regards to the precariousness of his new one-hundred-percent-more-mortal life.

To add insult to injury, Elfo now spent more time with Bean. Since Luci's candid talk with him, Elfo had done his level best to not hang out with the demon and though he was there, right there, so close that Luci could reach out and touch him, he felt further away than he had been in heaven.

It was okay, Luci told himself. Sure, some gratitude would have been nice and maybe it would have helped a little with his burgeoning realization that he was a monster as well as being an actual demon... but considering how their last conversation had gone... Well, it was probably for the best. The only thing worse than being mortal and having no powers would be to know for sure that the person you gave it all up for hated you for it.

Ignorance really was bliss. Or at least it was the difference between a mediocre situation and one that completely sucked.

Whatever. He'd take it.

He wasn't sure if the two of them were making up after the stupid tension they'd had over Bean choosing her evil mom over Elfo, but they seemed like they were doing better than he was. At least they had each other. Besides, given that Bean was getting to experience a direct comparison between the two, it probably made Elfo look like a much better choice overall. Of course, considering Bean's mom was a murderous whack-job, that wasn't saying much about Elfo.

Luci ached to join them, as Bean rebutted yet another of Dagmar's attempts to play nicey-nice with her in an effort to hammer that damned crown into her skull. The princess stormed off into one of the caverns with nothing but a torch in hand and a tag-along elf. Luci didn't go with them, though, choosing to stalk through the dark underground corridors like a creep instead.

The tinkle of a music box caught his attention, the same sound that had haunted Bean night after night, and Luci followed it down into the dark. He was aware of the eyes on him, all around him, gleaming in the pitch black in a way that was unnerving, even to a creature of pure evil.

He entered the lit room where the music box was sitting innocently on a low table, the tiny figure of Dagmar twirling endlessly with an infant Bean in her arms. Luci wasn't even surprised as the door creaked shut behind him. He didn't even look. "What's up?" He paused, just to show how unaffected he was. His insides were still and cold, like ice. "Dagmar."

"Hello, Luci." She greeted him blithely, as if she hadn't tried to imprison him in a bottle for the rest of his - at the time immortal - life. "Long time no see."

"Eh." His shoulders rose in a slight shrug. He still didn't look at her. "Could've been longer."

He couldn't see her, but he could practically feel her condescending smile on his back. "Why so testy, Luci? It was a betrayal you must have seen coming. You would have done the same to me, given the chance."

Well, yeah. Doy. He _was_ a demon. But also...

"Yeah." He snapped, terse and unthinking. "But at least my betrayal would have screwed over someone who deserved it."

There was a moment of silence so complete that for a moment he could almost have fooled himself into thinking that maybe Dagmar had left. Somehow. Without making a single sound or opening the door. ...well she was a witch...

Then there was a sound like a choked hiss. Luci turned his head, hoping that somehow Dagmar had spontaneously dropped dead, only to find her head tipped back as she let out a laugh that sounded too normal to belong to an evil ex-queen. It went on for a long time, long enough that Luci's eyes narrowed in disgust as his tail gave a slow lash behind him. His ears went sideways, unamused.

The sound died out at last, Dagmar looking at him with an expression too sincere to be real. "You always were an amusing one." Her lips were curled in a small, catlike smile. "So much to prove." She had him pegged, as much as he would never have said so. He'd come into this assignment with the hopes that he'd increase his own position, that he'd be _someone_ and that they'd all see just how powerful, just how evil he could be. Corrupting a human would be a piece of cake.

How wrong he'd been. 

"I don't need to prove anything to you." Luci couldn't keep the growl out of his voice. That part was true, at least. He didn't give a shit about what Dagmar thought of him. She was neither a demon nor one of his mortals and her opinion was less than worthless.

"Obviously not." She wasn't fazed or upset by his words. "But you can't be proving much about your 'big bad demon' nature when you coddle the girl you're supposed to be corrupting. I'd almost think your heart wasn't in it." 

Luci's eyes were narrowed as he looked up at her, his chest moving in slight jerky breaths although he didn't really need to breathe at all. Dagmar's eyes flicked over him, probing, looking for weaknesses. As brave a front as he was putting on at the moment, the demon was full of them. "I'm just here to do my job." 

"Ah." He could see the predatory glint in Dagmar's eyes at his long silence, one that she made no attempt to hide. He knew her nature as well as she knew his. There was no need for pretense. Her teeth flashed, gleaming white in the dim as she let out a laugh. "Oh, that is rich, Luci, truly." She wiped a single tear of mirth from the corner of her eye, smiling down at him beatifically as he bristled. There was a subtle shift in her expression that he almost missed and then she leaned forward, intrigued. "So angry, demon." Her fingers steepled in front of her face. "Oh, you really don't know, do you? So amusing. I never took you for a fool."

The demon's eyes narrowed, his teeth gritting. He couldn't even pretend to be civil right now, though it might have been the wisest course. He was pretty done with just sitting back and taking things though. If he wasn't going to put up with this bullshit from his (ex) superiors in Hell, then he damn sure wasn't going to do so with Dagmar. "I know more than you think." Okay. It was only _mostly_ a blatant lie, but it would have to do.

"But not this." Dagmar leaned in, conspiratorially, "or do you and you won't even admit it? Are you such a good liar that you've even managed to fool yourself?" She reached out one somehow immaculately manicured nail, pressing into the fur on his snout in a pointed jab. " _You're in love._ "

The world dragged to a halt around him as he looked up at her and didn't even see her. There was a dull roar in his ears.

"You're a liar." He croaked the words through the lump lodged in his throat.

"Well, of course I am." She leaned back in her chair, glancing in the direction Bean and Elfo had gone. "But I only lie when it suits me and right now-" Her lips split in a smirk, "-right now the truth is so much better than any lie I could come up with. Imagine... a demon falling in love. It's like a cruel cosmic joke, wouldn't you say?" Luci's claws clenched into his own palms, digging deep with a painful bite as Dagmar's gaze raked over him, sharp enough to draw blood. "So, who's the unfortunate mortal? Is it my dear Bean?" He didn't have to answer... somehow she knew from the split-second change in his expression, closing in on him like the teeth on a bear trap. "The elf? My, my, Luci... You're so bad at being bad."

She had no idea. She couldn't have known what he'd given up to get Elfo's soul back from Hell. It was the only blessing a demon in this situation could hope for.

Worst of all, even without that little tidbit of information... she was still right.

It was everything he'd never wanted to admit to anyone, least of all himself. 

He'd done it - he'd gone to hell, he'd dragged Bean along for the ride - because the feeling in him when he'd stood there in the forest, looking down at Elfo's limp body... it had been too much to take. It had overflowed out of him and left him shaking. He'd cried -

_and demons never cried, not even with mirth-_

-and he'd struggled afterward to find something, anything, to fill that Elfo-shaped hole in his life. He'd tried and failed.

"Shut up." He said to Dagmar, unable to muster any heat. His voice was dull. "You're not here for me."

"No." The witch rose to her feet, looming. Luci was too weary to be afraid. Not of her. "No. I'm not. You're not important at all. You never were. Bean is the only one who matters, isn't she?" There were layers within layers in those words, so many implications that Luci had the urge to jump up and claw her face off like he was an actual cat. But it would have cut his new mortal life a hell of a lot shorter and he wasn't ready for that just yet.

"You won't stop me, demon." She took a couple of steps in the direction Bean had gone. The princess wouldn't have been able to wander off far, not with the commotion in the kingdom and not with the score she still had to settle with her mother.

_and hopefully not without Luci... he wasn't that expendable was he? Not yet..._

"You can't stop Bean's destiny. No one can." Dagmar strode out of the room in a whirl of red and white, leaving Luci standing alone.

Luci reached for the music box still sitting on the small table. It snapped open as his paw touched it and the familiar high tinkle of music started playing. Luci gritted his teeth for a second, then pushed his palm against the box and shoved it off of the table. It hit the floor with a discordant bleat of sound. He stared after Dagmar as the box struggled through a couple more notes. "Bean can." He said - to no one - as the music fell silent.

He shoved aside his feelings for Elfo for the moment. Okay, so they existed and that _sucked_ so goddamn hard, but he wasn't getting anything done by moping about it. Maybe he could at least help Bean make her evil mom's plans - and hell-willing, her evil mom too - go down in flames.

And at the very least, trying would distract him from feeling or thinking about anything else...

  
-

He wasn't sure how much time was passing. Given the relative size of Dreamland, they could have walked from one end of the kingdom to the other in a few hours - or about twice that long if they were stumbling drunk, as they usually were - but somehow the tunnels of the catacombs seemed to wend on forever. Bean’s impatience and her worry battered constantly at Luci over their bond, though the princess was doing her best to keep it hidden from her mother. Dagmar was mostly silent as she led them on and not one of them was ready to trust her.

Luci would normally have made the trip easier for himself by riding on Bean's shoulder, but with Elfo clinging tight to her side like a burr or an overprotective chihuahua, he skewed away of getting too close. He was avoiding his problems like a coward but at least the avoidance was helping to keep said problems - and the elf who was causing them - at a distance for the moment.

Still, his eyes kept darting there, unbidden, to said elf. To where that warm glow would have been. Where it should have been.

He knew it wasn't coming back. For a short, but weirdly hopeful time, he'd been expecting that the lack of it would make his feelings fade too. Maybe it had just been that little touch of heavenly glow that had attracted him in the first place. It was always so easy to want the things you couldn't have, he reasoned, so that stupid bright soul was bound to draw demons, like moths to a flame. Now that it was well and truly gone, this yearning inside him would fade too.

Except it didn't and Luci's two - both equally shitty - options were to talk to Dagmar as they walked or to stew in his own emotions. Both choices sucked hard.

He sped up the pace of his short legs to keep up with the white-haired woman at the head of their weird little procession.

"So where are we going?" He asked, conversationally. "I mean we've been walking for a while now. There's been plenty of creepy murdery spots we've passed up so far."

"Oh, do shut up, Luci." Dagmar's voice wasn't angry, just dismissive and airy. "I have no intention of murdering Bean. She's of little use to me dead."

Not for the first time, Luci was struck by how crappy Bean's mom was. Dagmar made Bean's fatass jerk of a dad look like a saint by comparison and that was an impressive feat. But, as Bean had so succinctly pointed out, at least Zog had never tried to screw a crown into her skull and make her into some kind of weird sacrifice. 

Dagmar wasn't exactly at the top of Luci's list when it came to quality conversation opportunities, but even trying did remind him that a lot of his conversations in Hell had been like this. Just... him hanging around in the general vicinity of worse assholes than he could ever be. In Hell, though, he'd wanted to be more like them and had hoped their assholishness would rub off on him somehow. It was like he'd been waiting for their big bad demon thing to make him just like them through osmosis or some shit. But it had never happened and a level 0 subdemon he had remained.

Dagmar was a lot like those assholes in Hell, his old drinking buddies who'd probably forgotten his name as soon as he'd gone on this mission and was no longer in their direct line of sight. But things were different now. Dagmar was a Grade A asshole and the picture of an ideal demon...

And he wanted nothing from her. He had no admiration for her schemes and only a little for her sheer ruthlessness.

What in the hell had happened to him?

There was a muffled thud from behind him, accompanied by a stifled yelp. For a moment, the edges of Luci's lips curled up in a smile that was equal parts resigned and fond.

_Yeah. I guess that happened._

He turned, trotting back to where Bean was slightly bent over, hissing and rubbing at her shin. In the dim light, she'd obviously misstepped and barked herself against an outcropping of rock. Elfo was beside her, torch held in his hand.

"Whatcha lagging back here for, losers?" He tried to sound as brusque as he used to, back when this had been just an assignment he'd been doing in hopes of raising his own status.

"Bean hit a rock." Elfo supplied helpfully as if it wasn't obvious.

"Oh yeah?" Luci's sneer was disappointing. He was thankful that they probably couldn't tell in the dark. "I bet you wish you had better night vision right about now."

"Yeah." Bean replied dryly. "I do." She took the torch back from Elfo, who watched her straighten up with that look of dim curiousity that Luci was used to. He hadn't seen it on Elfo's face in a while now and he had to wonder if it was just another thing that was in the slow process of fading out of existence - like the glow of Elfo's soul - or whether it was just something that Elfo didn't have toward _him_ anymore.

He didn't know which of the possibilities was worse but he did know that the familiar light note in Elfo's voice as he piped up "I have pretty good night vision, actually!" sent a sharp pang right through to his dark little core.

His tail drooped a bit as Bean started to walk again. Elfo spared him only a glance from the corner of his eye before he hastened to join the princess at a wobbily lope, leaving Luci behind.

He might have stood there longer, fuming in the dark over the inconvenience, but more of Dagmar's creepy little minions were waddling in behind him and he didn't relish the prospect of hanging out alone with them.

So he followed Bean and Elfo, close on their heels the entire way but never quite catching up.

-

They were all getting tired, some in different ways. Luci could read it in the tenseness of Bean's stance and the slight but growing lag in her reaction times. She was barely sleeping, if she was sleeping at all. Given Dagmar's undisguised plan to screw that weird crown to her head, Bean's reluctance to rest was understandable, but it wasn't doing her much good in the long run.

Elfo stuck close to her side the entire time, alternating between worried looks at Bean and baleful - for Elfo, anyway - glares in Dagmar's direction.

For her part, Dagmar was tireless. None of the traveling affected her in any noticeable way. She never got ruffled or worn, she didn't seem to drink or eat and she was somehow always awake. Her confidence and calm never wavered, even while the trio slowly wore down around her, both individually and as a unit. They couldn't go on like this...

"She's fucking with us." Luci said, at least. They'd stopped for a moment, a brief respite. Elfo was pulling out their carefully rationed food and sorting through it. It was routine now. One of the two of them tasting everything first before Bean had any, just in case Dagmar tried to drug them. They'd silently agreed - the two of them - that if someone had to be the priority... well... Everything they had on hand had come from Dagmar originally, so it was a questionable bounty at best. Elfo nibbled at a bit of stale roll as Luci paced, tail lashing behind him. "She's trying to tire us out. She's leading us on some wild goose chase to soften us up and then **_bam!_** out comes the murder crown."

He turned to face his companions, a bit punch drunk and high on this realization. Their expressions weren't shocked or impressed though. Elfo handed Bean the rest of the partially eaten roll in silence and she took a sloppy bite out of it.

"Yeah." She said between mouthfuls. "We know. I mean, I'm not stupid." Her voice rose, words ringing loud through the caverns. Even at a distance, it was possible that Dagmar would hear her, especially when she added - even louder - "I'm not going to fall for my evil mom's evil plans." She went quieter for a moment after this brave assertion. "I'm not going to let her win. Not if I can help it." She leaned her head against the nearest rock wall, closing her eyes for a moment.

"I'm just not sure how much longer I can do this..."

Her words hung in the air and Luci's ears went back, his eyes darting to meet Elfo's. There was a look of stark distress on the elf's weird green face. Elfo moved to press his hand against Bean's, offering her a pale shadow of his old cheerful smile.

"It's okay Bean." He said, soft and almost plaintive. "We're in this together." His head turned to include Luci in his statement. Their eyes locked for a moment and the look was unreadable in its intent. Was he trying to reassure Luci? Was he being polite in the wake of their previous disagreement? "Like you said before.... together we're stronger."

Bean leaned down, giving Elfo a one-armed hug, her face pressed into his purple hat for a moment as she made a sound that was half-laugh half-sob. "Thanks Elfo." She sat back up again, oozing weariness from her pores. "We can't just sit back and wait for her to get us where she wants us though. We need a plan."

"We'll come up with something." Luci stepped in. "I'm sick of letting her have the upper hand. Let's stick it to her instead." His tail gave a sinuous lash behind him.

"We will." Elfo's voice was tight and prim. "But first, we need some rest. We're all worn out." At Bean's dubious expression, he took on that old scolding tone. "You're not good to anyone if we come up with some plan and you're too tired to implement it. We just need to rest for a moment." He drew himself up, as much as his diminutive frame would allow. "I'm gonna... uh... go get us some alcohol."

They all knew that Dagmar had some stashed away. The weird casks that her creepy little minions had taken the time to lug along after them were probably full of booze. Getting completely drunk would be a bad idea though, no matter how much Luci would normally have been encouraging Bean to Do It before.

Maybe Elfo caught his thought because he gave Luci a look. "Just a little." He clarified. Luci thought maybe the elf was mostly looking to give Bean what amounted to a nightcap, something to help her relax, which... honestly might not have been the worst idea.

"Yeah. Sure." Luci looked form one of his companions to the other. "I'll come with you."

Elfo stiffened a little at the not-offer and Luci had his previous suspicions that Elfo was trying to avoid him confirmed. It didn't matter though because he had no intention of letting Elfo leave him behind this time. It helped that Bean was there, and besides, actively refusing after his "we should stick together" speech would have come across as suspicious. Luci could tell he'd won by the slump in Elfo's shoulders and his soft sigh. The elf made no effort to wave him away as he began to trudge in the general direction that Dagmar's lackeys had been heading in.

They both knew she had resources since she was the one doling out their meals. They also knew that she was unlikely to have completely given up on her creature comforts, not even for the sake of her evil schemes.

Foremost on said list of comforts was beer. Probably she would have been fine with any alcohol but she was definitely all about her beer. Luci raised his head, sniffing at the air for any hints on where they might go. When Elfo opened his mouth like he might say something stupid - comparing Luci to a dog, for example - it only took a sharp glare from the demon to make him think better of it and shut his trap.

The weird little trogs that were working with Dagmar for some reason had a distinctive smell, like damp earth and rotting leaves and something else that Luci couldn’t identify. It was an acrid sort of scent and he grimaced as he walked a bit further down the passageway before pausing at a fork. “Well, she’s been down this way at some point.” He waved a paw in front of his nose as if he could clear the false overly sweet scent of her from the air. Funny how being around elves had made him more aware of how painful the fake smells humans liked to use were. Elfo’s smell was easily as sweet as whatever perfume Dagmar used but it was natural and it didn’t make him want to scrape the inside of his nose out with a rusty spoon.

_It just made him want to kiss Elfo and see if he tasted as sweet as he smelled. Now that he knew what he wanted it was hard to shove it back again. Fuck being in love. Fuck it._

“Whatever she’s doing down here, she’s been here a lot.” Who knew how long Dagmar had been lurking. Maybe she’d been below the castle like a creep since they’d gotten back from Maru. Damn him, he was regretting that he hadn’t stuck around to make sure she’d been dead after that first explosion.

Elfo didn’t reply to his observation. He hadn’t responded to Luci at all while they’d been walking, just keeping his shoulders hunched oddly, a distance between them that was deliberate and measured. Frankly, it pissed Luci off and he was done pretending it didn’t. Now that he was mortal, a lot of things got to him more easily than they used to. “Well say something, damn it.” He snapped out the words, his tone accusing.

  
The elf didn’t respond to the earlier words, had nothing to say about his analysis of what Dagmar was up to, but it didn’t matter. That wasn’t the important thing that Luci needed to hear from him. 

Of course, neither were the words he actually said. 

“You don’t have to come…” Elfo’s hands clenched against the torch, so tightly that the skin flushed a paler green. He was doing his best to look everywhere but directly at his demon companion. Well, Luci was done putting up with that. He was tired of it. Even before he’d finally broken and let Elfo know exactly how he felt about what he’d done in Hell, he’d been on the verge of lashing out over the complete lack of appreciation for all he’d done.

Yeah, they hadn’t known about it but that didn’t mean much.

“Of course I didn’t,” Luci said, too casual. He could see Elfo’s flinch at the words. It sent a sick surge of grim satisfaction through him, to know that the elf was as uncomfortable as he’d been all this time. Good. He should know.. he should feel guilty damn it. If he could experience some slight measure of the _\- misery -_ frustration that Luci’d been dealing with, it might offer some small bit of satisfaction. “But I wanted to keep you company.”

Elfo sped up his steps a little, even when he stumbled over the uneven rocks. Fleeing. Luci didn’t bother going any faster, following Elfo at a steady pace. It wasn’t like he could run forever.

No one could run forever. Luci was already learning that the hard way himself.

They passed by a couple of Dagmar’s little minions on their walk, the creepy eyes following them even though they didn’t intercept the duo or follow them. They gleamed like lamps in the torchlight as Elfo got too far away. 

It wasn’t a long walk until they reached an area with crates and barrels. It wasn’t exactly a room… or at least not one with the typical doors and trappings. It was just a smaller cavern. There were some weird scribblings on the wall around the entryway, probably whatever language it was that these grungy cave dwellers had. Still, it was definitely a storage area and if there was any place to find some booze it’d be somewhere in here.

By the time Luci caught up with him, Elfo was already shuffling helplessly through the crates, the torch balanced precariously against the crook of his elbow. Desperation clung to him like a second skin and he jumped as Luci’s paw brushed against his elbow. “O-oh! Luci!” A laugh that wasn’t at all genuine.”Can you uh…” Elfo’s voice faltered, the torch sliding from his grip while he was trying to get the words out past his grimacing lips. “Can you help find the-”

The torch came away from Elfo’s hooked arm and hit the floor with a jolt of light and a clatter that echoed throughout the small cavern. Even Luci, who’d been expecting it, still jumped a little, his ears flicking flat against his head. Elfo scrambled to pick it up immediately, his hands shaking as he held it up again, peering into the flickering flame. The fall had knocked away some of the material, leaving the glow weaker than it had been before. 

“This isn’t good…” Elfo fussed aloud, “We’ll have to hurry.” He turned, then jumped again when he realized Luci was so close. He made a motion to edge around the demon, then froze, pinned under Luci’s stare. “W-why are you looking at me like that?”

Why indeed.

The hesitation on Elfo’s face was the first breakthrough Luci had seen since their earlier heart to heart. He’d been holding himself as carefully neutral as he could, giving no further indication of what he was thinking now that he _knew_. Luci had suspected the elf had to resent him now that he knew Luci’s motivations-

_Some of them. The important ones..._

-but Elfo had been avoiding him so studiously since then, avoiding being alone with him or even being _near_ him whenever he could. But Luci didn’t need Elfo to do anything to make him aware of how shitty he was as a friend or a person, he’d have been a damn poor demon if he hadn’t already known. 

_And he was a damn poor excuse for a demon… that he was aware of it and it actually still mattered somehow..._

“Well?” Luci said, his question soft but sharp at the edges. 

“What?” Elfo’s words stuttered to a halt, his tongue tangling until what he was trying to say came out as a strangled noise. The flame was still guttering, casting wild formless shadows around them. Out of the corner of his eye Luci could see his own shadow and Elfo’s against the crates on the wall. They almost overlapped at the edges, making them look like they were standing close together even though they were a fair distance apart in the room… and even further apart in every other way.

Just like that it was too much. The distance had become unbearable, finally. Elfo had always been the one to intrude in his space, both physically and emotionally, to push his friendship and his affection and his presence on a demon who wanted nothing more than to have an amusing fool to torment. Instead of getting under Elfo’s skin, Elfo had gotten under his. He’d left a permanent bit of himself there, where Luci couldn’t dislodge it. Not in his heart, exactly, because demons didn’t have such ridiculous and useless organs, but somewhere inside. He hated it… feeling this way. It was Elfo’s fault. It wasn’t a failing on his part, just a persistent, nefarious - could it be nefarious if it wasn’t actually evil? - campaign on the elf’s part to get to him. 

“Don’t act so innocent with me!” He snapped out. “You did this. It’s your fault!” His insides were screaming at him and while there was a little voice of reason trying to pipe up inside his head, to remind him that it wasn’t like Elfo had been trying to seduce him or something, the rest of the noise drowned it out. “I never wanted to be your friend or-” The words cut off in a rasp and it took a few panting breaths to get enough air or enough composure to continue. “You were the one who wanted that!”

“I did.” Elfo admitted to his guilt while never showing any. His voice was soft. When Luci looked at him, his face was painted in bands of light and shadows that made it impossible to read his expression. “I did want to be your friend.”

His use of the past tense made Luci’s chest seize. The world ground to a halt for a second as his mind raced through the possibilities. Did Elfo not want to be friends anymore? There was a time when the thought would have been a relief. But, here and now, friendship was all he had, especially when there was no way that the elf could…

_You’re in love._ The words were mocking him in Dagmar’s voice and he should have been angry, railed against it as he had when talking with the woman earlier, but when it was just himself and Elfo and this burgeoning feeling of impending loss, he simply accepted it as truth. He was in love.

Just like that his panic over his own feelings began to settle. He’d spent so much time worrying over how he felt and trying to deny it… having a name to hang on those too-big feelings trying to cram themselves into his tiny frame was a relief. It didn’t mean he didn’t still feel shitty about it or hate that he felt this way, but at least now he didn’t have to waste all his energy trying to deny it to himself.

His throat was dry, his voice emerging as a raspy croak. “And what about now?” Him finally admitting he was in love, just to have the object of his bizarre affections decide that he wasn’t even worth being friends with anymore… it would have been torture. There was some part of him that briefly - wildly - wondered if maybe he was the one in Hell. 

Elfo’s head dropped, casting shadows across his face and leaving him obscured for a second while Luci braced himself to hear the words. “I still want to be friends.” 

Not the words he’d expected and Luci struggled to digest them for a second. His paws flexed and clenched and he didn’t move from where he stood. Elfo’s head rose, their gazes meeting in the midst of Luci’s wash of conflicted emotions. 

The light was still dimming around them and Luci knew that when it was gone, they'd be in a black so pitch that even his keen eyes wouldn't be able to make anything out. Elfo's own yellow eyes seemed to defy the darkness for a little longer, catching the fading rays of the torchlight to gleam a warm gold. Luci still expected anger in them, but Elfo just looked weary and ragged around the edges.

Damn his heart, Luci cursed internally as something in his chest seized up at the sight. The soft sound that escaped his own lips was utterly alien to him.

"God damn you..." His voice came out in a hoarse croak, pained.

He felt more than saw the elf's wistful little smile in reaction. "He already did."

And like that, Luci couldn't take it anymore. The distance between them, what he'd created in a desperate attempt to save himself, was unbearable. He was going to regret this, he knew. It was going to haunt him for the rest of his miserable mortal life. He could only be momentarily grateful that said life would likely not be very long.

"I love you." He said. Simple. Flat.

He'd said it to people before, in efforts to save himself or win his freedom. At the time he hadn't known what it was except for something that mortals went all stupid and gooey over. Now he knew more about it than he wanted to.

Why? Why did they like this? It was a feeling that was too big to fit in his tiny frame and it hurt so much more than he could have expected.

He'd never wanted a love story. He'd always known that much. He'd especially never wanted the one where he gave up his everything for someone else, like some kind of sap.

But here he was.

He couldn't see Elfo's expression in the dim. Was it anger? Fear? Disgust? In his head, he envisioned them all. He couldn't bring himself to think it could be a good reaction, like happiness or excitement. Lovestruck sap, he might be - 

_Oh hell. Why this? Why him? Why us?_

-but he wasn't a total fool.

At last, Elfo finally made a sound, something small... maybe a sigh. It wasn't much but it made Luci's gut twist in fear and anticipation.

"Oh, Luci..." It wasn't the most promising start. Elfo let out a shaky breath and then drew another. It came out in a shaky laugh. "We're quite a pair, aren't we?"

For a moment, just one brilliant, blinding moment, Luci dared to hope. Elfo's words had them inextricably tied together. But it just wasn't his luck.

"Why do people have to want what they can't have?" Elfo was asking and the words made Luci's theoretical heart plunge down to his feet. Lower, until it was buried somewhere in the cold bedrock beneath Dreamland. He hoped Elfo would stop at that, to just leave him with the realization that his stupid feelings and his stupid desires were pointless. He didn't need more... he especially didn't need the pity that was sure to follow.

He'd stormed Hell and given up everything for someone who didn't even care about him that much. The irony was palpable.

So Luci could only laugh in response, choked and guttural and bitter on his lips. He had to laugh because the alternative was so much worse. Then he felt arms around him, drawing him into the surprising solidness of Elfo's chest. He stiffened, his laugh tangling in his throat and cutting out in a croak. His hands came up like he might return the affection but instead they sank into the tender green skin of Elfo's arms, until he felt him flinch.

But he didn't let go of Luci. Damn him.

"I know how you feel." Elfo murmured finally, still holding onto him. Luci didn't have to ask for clarification and the elf didn't give any. They just held like that for a few precious seconds and whatever this was... it almost felt like something real.

When they pulled back, Elfo's expression was sad but sympathetic. Luci hadn't wanted to be pitied over his stupid non-demony emotions, but at the same time, he kind of did. It was the acknowledgment he'd needed after the rescue, even if it was only a fraction of what he really wanted. It was the least he was due.

"This can't have a happy ending, can it?" Luci wasn't sure where the words came from. He was surprised at how calm they were.

"I don't know." The light from the torch was so faded now, but Luci didn't have to see Elfo's expression to know what it was. "Maybe not for us." His head turned, gazing off somewhere into the dark, as though he could look through the unwelcoming rock, all the way to where their companion was undoubtedly still up, waiting for them. "But maybe it still can for Bean."

There was a time, not too long ago, when Luci would have asked why. He would have thought it was the stupidest thing imaginable to care enough that someone else's happiness might matter before your own. To give up on something you wanted so badly and to be okay with it.

He thought he was starting to understand now. It was killing him a little inside. Maybe Elfo was ready to hang it all up and be some kind of emotional martyr but he couldn't be. Not yet.

"I don't want to talk about Bean, damn it." His voice came out more anguished than angry. "It's always going to be about Bean! Just once, why can't it be about-"

His words cut off before the one he really wanted to say, but it was still there between them, glaringly obvious. The last glowing ember of their torch finally went out.

Demons couldn't really see in the dark. Well... maybe the high-ranking uber demons could, but it wasn't like they ever really needed to. Hell was continually lit with magma and lots and lots of open flames. It wasn't dark enough for the ability to see in pitch black surroundings was a useful or necessary skill. Yeah, Luci could see okay in dim light, but with the torch out he might as well have been blind. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, not sure whether to be angry at the timing or grateful that the sudden darkness meant that Elfo couldn't see him in his moment of silent misery.

He let out a breath as he opened his eyes, expecting it to be no different, just that blank total blackness that could only exist underground. Nothingness, as far as he could - or rather, couldn't - see.

Instead, he could still see Elfo in front of him with relative clarity. Hell, he was even easier to see now than he had been in the dim torchlight from earlier. Luci could see the small furrow in the elf's brows that betrayed some worry.

_What?_

"Luci." Elfo sighed, hands reaching out in his general direction. Apparently, though Luci could still see, Elfo was literally in the dark here. What was going on?

For a moment, Luci tried to ascertain the light source. There had to be one... but all he could see was Elfo, clear and distinct. A swift sweep of Luci's demonic vision across the room clarified at least one thing. Elfo was directly in the source of the light because everything else beyond him and around them was hazy. His ears went back in the dark, eyes widening as he snapped his focus back onto Elfo and he looked. Really _looked_.

There was that slight warm glow around Elfo that stood out starkly in the intense darkness. Without the other lights and the other distractions it was more obvious. He wasn't sure how he'd missed it, except that it was somehow different than the brilliant gleaming aura that had wreathed the elf previously. But if he could rule out the glow of a heaven-bound soul being the cause, he still had no idea why this even existed or what it was.

Souls marked for Hell didn't glow at all. Most souls didn't really glow. At best they had this dingy grey quality to them, like a piece of unwashed linen. Not dark really, but dull.

This was something Luci had never seen before. Something in-between. Something _new_.

He was too surprised to move, even as Elfo's fumbling hands finally found him in the dark. Fingers brushed against his shoulder. Then warm, slightly clammy arms wrapped around him and he felt a wash of comfort piggybacked on top of his general dislike of being manhandled. On some level, he was experiencing an odd sense of relief at this new information.

Luci had spent a lot of time avoiding thinking about how he'd ruined things, even if he'd been painfully aware of it. He'd ruined Elfo. Ruined his own life. Everything he touched, basically. In a way, Luci had succeeded at his original job too well.

But maybe... maybe that wasn't the truth? Could he hope for that? Not having completely ruined everything wasn't ideal but it was better than the alternative.

His hands came up, unbidden, clenching in the fabric of Elfo's ragged shirt and pulling himself more tightly into the heat of the elf's small green body. After everything he'd said - his soul-crushing confession, his unreasoning anger - he expected to be pushed away, not pulled closer into the welcoming warmth. His pointy ears were tucked back flat against his head as he buried his face in Elfo's chest. Elfo's hand settled at his nape, petting awkwardly into his dark fur.

"You matter." Elfo was saying and Luci wanted to scream at him. He wanted to hold on so tightly that he'd fuse to Elfo, as close as his own shadow. He wanted to hit the elf hard enough to knock him flat on his ass so Elfo would forget to pity him.

_Damn him._

He wanted to kiss Elfo until he forgot his own name and why none of this was real and never could be.

Here in the dim, not-shadow of this place, everything felt a little off-kilter. If there was someplace where things like this could exist, maybe it was here.

"Don't." He growled out, and when Elfo started, drew back for a second, his clawed hands came up and squashed Elfo's face between them. Luci knew what he was going to do the moment before he actually did it. "Just... Can I just...?" Since when had he ever been at a loss for words? All he could think was that it wasn't even fair. Maybe Elfo could never have Bean, but at the very least he had _something_ to hold on to...

Then Elfo's fingers tangled in the fur at the back of Luci's neck, like he knew just what the demon was thinking in that moment. His hands were steady as they drew him in that tiny distance he was still afraid to cross.

Elfo tasted somehow dusty, like he'd been eating dirt. It was something Luci wouldn't have put past him. He tasted stale, but with an accompanying note of sweetness, like a day-old donut.

He tasted faded... like the lingering memory of a dream.

This was it. What he'd been waiting for and wanting. He knew it was just this place. He'd heard that the complete absence of light did strange things to people and it made even bizarre things seem real. Elfo didn't exactly glow anymore and maybe Luci himself wasn't as dark as he'd always tried to be... but here they were both somewhere in the middle.

So mortal and muddled and somehow weirdly perfect.

It ended before he could lose himself fully in it, leaving a deep ache to settle under his skin as they pulled away from each other. Luci hadn't known how empty he was until now.

"Why?" he croaked out and Elfo's eyes closed for a second, his lips pulling at the edges in a confusing not-smile. He gave no answer for a long moment.

"I don't know," Elfo said at last. "I couldn't leave it like that, I guess." Had he known somehow that Luci wanted this? That it was some kind of consolation for what he'd never have. Was this his drugged-out kiss, but painfully sober? Elfo's expression was no help, his smile was hesitant, pulling more at one corner of his mouth than the other. It occurred to Luci that maybe he wasn't the only one trying to muddle through life with the poor hand he'd been dealt.

Somehow it made him feel a little better.

"This sucks." He said plainly. He reached out a hand, the tips of his claws grazing across the back of Elfo's knuckles. He wasn't sure if he meant life sucked in general, if it was their current situation, or if it was specifically the fact that he had these _feelings_ for his not-friend-not-anything-else companion. Probably all three. It all just _sucked_.

"Yeah." Wry agreement. "Life sucks." Elfo let out a sigh, the slight slump of his shoulders evident in Luci's weird glow-vision. Maybe he was thinking about how much simpler things could have been right now if he felt the same way as Luci. If they could have just been a mutual _something_ instead of being two fools who never quite aligned properly. His hand turned beneath Luci's, twisted to face his, and for a moment their fingers intertwined.

For a few seconds, in the tiny sliver of space between light and dark, Luci's little happily-ever-after could almost have existed.

He let out a breath and it was gone.

Their hands pulled apart at the sound of a thump from outside the chamber. Bean's voice rose in a muffled curse and then she called out to them. "Boys? Are you in here? C'mon!" A soft disdainful laugh bubbled on Bean's lips and as she entered the chamber, her torch illuminated the makeshift storeroom again and the last traces of Luci's indulgent fantasy dissolved in the split-second softness of Elfo's expression as he looked at Bean.

Luci felt a surge of defensiveness run through him, like he'd been accused of doing something he really didn't want the credit for. Bean didn't seem upset or suspicious though, just weary. She looked between her two companions, too tired or too oblivious to note how ruffled and unhappy they both were.

"I keep thinking my mom's gonna come around again." Bean said, with a quick glance over one shoulder. "Man, I could really use a drink, now that I think about it." She sighed, shaky and slow and Elfo moved to her side, offering the assurance and support that Luci desperately wanted for himself.

To his credit, for once, Luci didn't resent her over it.

He put his nose to the air, using his surprisingly keen sense of smell to scope out the contents of the barrels. It didn't take long for him to hit the jackpot, honing in on a cask that had been recently opened. "Might as well get what we came for." His tail looped around the empty flask from Bean's long-gone stash and he swiftly filled it. He passed it back to her and she took what was probably a bit too deep of a draught from it.

After another desperate gulp, she pressed it into Elfo's hands and he sipped at it himself before it came back to Luci, a bit slick and gross with their combined spit. At the moment, he didn't give a damn and took a few swallows himself. Bean closed it again, preserving some of it, just in case they didn't get the chance for more later, and Luci moved in closer to his mortals feeling a wash of warmth through him that didn't have anything to do with the booze.

"You should get some rest." The sound of his own voice surprised him, and Elfo too, from the look of it. "Might as well. You know she's just trying to wear you down."

Elfo gave a slow nod of agreement with this logic, pressing his hand against Bean's reassuringly. "It's okay Bean. You get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

They both knew Bean too well. The princess would have protested more if she hadn't been so exhausted. "You two agreeing on something? That's pretty ominous." She let out a shaky breath. "I suppose now's as good a time as any." Bean smiled, an expression that never quite reached her eyes. Luci couldn't begin to fathom what she must be thinking. She eased herself into a sitting position against the wall, slumped and half-tucked behind one of the barrels. Here was also as good a place as any.

As she leaned uncomfortably against the cold stone, Elfo moved to sit upright near her feet. He didn't speak for a good long time, just watching the one exit to the chamber. He was trying to seem alert, but every once in a while he would jolt slightly, a sure sign that his focus was getting difficult to maintain. He was tired too. He'd been up just as long as Bean had.

After the third time Elfo jerked upright, seconds after bumping his chin against his chest, Luci finally stepped in. "Get some sleep too, loser." He grumbled low, but without any ire. "I'll keep watch for now."

Elfo's gaze fell upon him, bleary and concerned. "But what about you?" His words cut off as Luci's small dark hand pressed against his cheek. His eyes were wide and still that warm gold.

Luci laughed, just a small burst of sound. "I don't need sleep like you mortal nerds do." He held his hand there for a moment longer, absorbing some of Elfo's warmth. "Besides, you're no good to Bean if you collapse. She needs you too." Now more than ever, he thought but didn't say aloud. After a second or two, Elfo finally dipped his head in defeat. Luci could feel the tremble in Elfo's body against the palm the demon had still pressed to his velvety cheek. 

"Okay." Elfo breathed. His eyes flicked to meet Luci's, his gaze hard to read for a moment. Worried, maybe. He was always worried about something. "Luci." He said as he pulled away, moving to settle himself beside Bean's leg. When Luci looked at him, eyes opening wider for a second, he seemed like he might be going to say something else, but eventually settled for a soft "Thank you."

A smile tugged at the corners of Luci's mouth. "Don't mention it." It faded immediately into a more serious expression. "...I mean it. Don't _ever_ mention it. Not to anyone." Luci turned on his heel and walked toward the one entrance to the storage-room-slash-makeshift-bedroom. He couldn't see his companions from the door, but in his mind's eye, they were there, huddled side by side in the dark. Stupid weak mortals.

_His_ stupid weak mortals.

He was standing watch when Dagmar returned from whatever nefarious things she was up to. She came up to the entrance where he was standing and looked down at him with a smile. "My my...what a studious little guard, Luci. How soft you've grown." He didn't respond to her small jabs, just looking up at her with a deliberately bland stare. His goal wasn't necessarily to piss her off with his indifference, but it would have made a nice bonus. After a few long seconds of this silence, Dagmar moved to step around him. Luci shuffled a few inches over to center himself in her path. Her eyes narrowed and she moved to step around him in the other direction. "You can't keep me out, demon." She said at last. "Your efforts to play the hero are tiresome as well as being futile." Their eyes met and Luci's stare was unflinching.

"I can just step over you, you know." Despite her confident tone, Luci knew he'd won. At least, he had for the moment.

"Then _do it_." Luci's spaded tail tip swished in the air.

It wasn't time though. Not yet. Somehow he knew it in his bones. She made no effort to step over him, just looking past him into the dark room as though she could actually see Bean and Elfo through the darkness and the obstacles in her way. It occurred to him that maybe she could, and he bristled internally with defensiveness.

"You can't win, you know." She said at last and Luci scoffed into her face.

"You obviously don't know Bean then." There was no way the human princess was going to cave to her evil mom. Despite all the time he spent ragging on them, his mortals were somehow impossibly resilient. They'd get through this. No matter what.

Dagmar's grin was wide, rictus-like. Predatory. "I know my daughter. I know her better than you think." Luci would have said something to refute her but she didn't give him the opportunity, already on to something else. "But I'm not talking about Bean."

Luci hesitated a split second longer and Dagmar, sensing his weakness, went in for the kill.

"Alas, poor demon." She lamented in mock sympathy. "It doesn't matter what you do though. All your foolish soft emotions don't bring you any closer to them, do they?"

Luci's eyes narrowed, a twist deep in his gut. His lips pulled back to expose a hint of teeth before he could catch himself. She was doing it, damn it. Somehow she was getting under his skin. 

It royally pissed him off.

"Shut it!" He snapped, without thinking.

"Just give up." She continued, relentless. "There's nothing else you _can_ do. They weren't meant for someone like you." She was only saying aloud what he'd already known deep down in his dark little heart. That made it even worse somehow. Dagmar straightened up with a smile that Luci desperately wanted to claw off of her smug, elegant face.

"Shadows just don't survive in the light, do they, Luci?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't. He could only stand there seething, the rage boiling over inside him. He felt like he might burst with the overwhelming swell of it. The only reason he managed to hold himself together was just plain spite. He wasn't going to let her see him break. So he scoffed when he wanted to scream.

Dagmar stood there, looking down at him, their gazes locked until Luci could feel his nonexistent heartbeat pounding in his ears. It was a staring contest he didn't know if he could win, but one he couldn't afford to lose. To his surprise, she broke away first, turning her head and tipping her chin up, haughty. "Think about it, demon. It'll be easier on all of you if you just give in." She paused with a smirk. "You would have a better chance with my dear Bean out of the picture, wouldn't you?"

Somehow he hadn't expected her to actually suggest that he should sell Bean out in an effort to get Elfo for himself. Maybe on some level, even he had balked at the thought of such a blatant betrayal of parental affection. Shit... maybe _he_ was the naive one here.

He let out a laugh at that, bitter and sharp. "Keep dreaming."

Was he talking to himself or to her? It didn't matter either way. He had no plans to just hand Bean over - 

_And even if he could and wanted to, it wouldn't change anything. He wasn't... **that** to Elfo. He couldn't be._

\- and nothing Dagmar could say.... nothing she could offer him... would ever change that.

But it didn't keep her barbs from sinking deep. The poison in her words seeped sluggishly into his veins, even as she turned away. He had no idea where she was going and he didn't care enough to try and find out.

He was thinking again about the old brightness of Elfo's soul glow. The way it called to him, drew him in like a stupid moth, despite himself. He was thinking of how he'd managed to destroy it somehow. What there was left...

Funny that the dimmer gleam of it still caught him... still had him helpless somehow. 

Shadows couldn't survive in the light. Not direct light, at least. That was true. But they couldn't really exist in the absence of light either, could they?

He couldn't win. For all her lies, all her half-truths and her casual cruelties, Dagmar was right about that. If Luci wasn't exactly a demon anymore after his expulsion from Hell, he certainly wasn't some fluffy happy creature of the light either. He was more the lingering shadow of something in-between and doomed to fade away over time. An eternal onlooker, sitting back helpless and lost on the wrong end of someone else's not-so-happily ever after.

Luci wandered back into the room. He doubted Dagmar would return for a while. She was clearly playing some kind of long con, trying to wear them down so they'd be easier prey. As he returned to his sleeping companions, he almost reached out to touch the back of Elfo's hand. He just barely stopped himself.

"I hate you." He said without heat, looking at that familiar green face, now slightly relaxed with sleep. He meant it.

Then. Quieter. "I love you."

In the dimness between light and shadows - like Sorcerio's hypothetical alive-or-dead cat - he knew both to be true.

  
-Fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you follow my tumblr, you'll know this fic was originally meant to be 4k words, but ultimately wound up being 38k instead. I was asked if there would be more of this fic and to that question I have to say... no, there's not. I knew right off the bat that it wasn't going to have a happy resolution for Luci and trying to reach one would have been difficult at best. It was more of an exploration of Luci's changing view of the world and his changing attitude. And his complicated feelings and relationship with Elfo.
> 
> While I don't have plans to add more to this particular story, there are a lot of elements in this that I'm considering expanding on in the form of a sequel or side story later on. I'll have to see if it's feasible with all the other things I'm working on too. I currently have 22 Disenchantment fics in the works, so it's a lot to get done.
> 
> Btw, if you enjoy my work, please think about subscribing. I have a lot of things I'll be bringing out going forward! And of course comments and kudos are always very welcome! It's such a tiny fandom that I appreciate each and every one.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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